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PRINCETON,    N.    J. 


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5^."i,        .«      ,• 


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By  JOSEPH  CROSS,  D.D.,  LL.D. 


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COALS  FROM  THE  ALTAR:  Sermons 
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PAULINE  CHARITY:  Discourses  on 
THE  Thirteenth  Chapter  of  Saint 
Paul's  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinth- 
ians.   12mo,  cloth 1.50 


THOMAS  WHITTAKER,  Publisher, 
2  AND  3  Bible  House,  New  York. 


^  " 


PAULINE  CHARITY 


DISCOURSES 


ON"   THE    THIRTEENTH   CHAPTER    OF   SAINT    PAUL'S 
FIRST  EPISTLE  TO  THE  CORINTHIANS 


BY 

THE  REV.  JOSEPH  "cross,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

AUTHOR   OF   "  EVANGEL,"   "  KNIGHT-BANNERET,"    "  COALS  FROM  THE 
ALTAR,"  AND  "  EDENS   OF  ITALY." 


NEW  YORK 
THOMAS    WHITTAKER 

2  AND  3  BIBLE  HOUSE 

1883 


Copyright,  1883, 
By   JOSEPH   CROSS. 


jTranfilin  "^nss: 

RAND,   AVERY,   AND   COMPANY, 
BObTON. 


TO 
HER    WHOSE 

UNSELFISH 

DEVOTION, 

RADIANT,    SERENE,   AND    HOLY,    HAS    PROVED    THE 

iSbening  Star  of  a  STroubleti  2Ltfe, 

THIS  LAST  PRODUCT  OF  MY  BRAIN  AND  HEART, 
AS  A  TRIBUTE 
TO  HER  NOBLE 
QUALITI  ES, 
INTELLECTUAL 
AND  SPIRITUAL, 
IS  WITH  MUCH 
TENDERNESS, 
GRATITUDE, 


AND  PRAYER  FOR  HER  PERFECTION 

In  Pauline  Cfjarftg, 


CORDIALLY   INSCRIBED    BY   THE    AUTHOR. 


V 


PREFACE. 


The  discourses  contained  in  this  volume  —  the  last 
probably  that  the  author  will  ever  publish  —  were  preached 
to  his  parishioners  on  twenty  consecutive  Sunday  even- 
ings after  Trinity.  However  they  might  have  been  im- 
proved by  careful  revision  with  a  view  to  their  better 
adaptation  to  private  reading,  for  reasons  which  need 
not  here  be  stated  it  has  been  deemed  inexpedient  to  alter 
their  structure  or  change  their  dress,  and  just  as  they 
were  spoken  from  the  pulpit  they  are  now  given  to  the 
printer. 

On  a  subject  so  often  treated,  any  attempt  at  originality 
would  savor  of  affectation ;  and  the  reader  is  faithfully 
forewarned  that  in  these  old-fashioned  homilies  he  is  to 
look  for  nothing  new.  During  their  preparation,  the 
preacher  availed  himself  freely  of  such  aids  as  fell  in 
his  way ;  sometimes,  with  due  acknowledgment,  quoting 
the  thoughts  of  others  in  their  own  words  ;  oftener  con- 
densing, expanding,  or  otherwise  modifying,  and  then 
presenting  them  in  a  new  verbal  costume,  simply  indicat- 
ing their  origin  in  foot-notes  ;  and  as  to  the  rest,  some- 
what difficult  it  were  at  this  date  for  him  to  say  what  or 

V 


VI  PEEFACE. 

how  much  of  any  particular  discourse  was  originally  the 
product  purely  of  his  own  excogitation,  and  what  in  sub- 
stance, at  least,  has  been  borrowed  from  books. 

At  a  time  when  sectional  antipathies  are  so  strong,  and 
party  animosities  are  so  bitter,  and  religious  controversies 
are  so  i)revalent,  and  a  hundred  rival  sects  are  everywhere 
striving  for  the  mastery,  and  in  many  quarters  the  bonds 
of  Christian  brotherhood  are  sadly  weakened  if  not  rudely 
sundered,  what  subject  could  be  more  suitable  for  paro- 
chial instruction  than  the  nature  and  obligation  of  the 
supreme  virtue  so  finely  portrayed  by  St.  Paul?  May 
the  heavenly  unction  fall  on  all  our  hearts,  copious  as  the 
holy  oil  on  Aaron's  head,  welcome  as  the  manna  in  the 
wilderness,  reviving  as  the  river  from  the  cloven  rock, 
refreshing  as  the  former  and  latter  rains  to  Israel's  thirsty 
heritage,  gentle  yet  invigorating  "as  the  dew  that  de- 
scended upon  the  mountains  of  Zion,  where  the  Lord 
commanded  the  blessing,  even  life  for  evermore !  *' 

J.  C. 

"Whitsuntide,  1883. 


CONTENTS. 


DiscouBSE.  Page. 

Text. 1 

I.  Charity  Defined 3 

II.  Chaeity  and  Miracles 22 

III.  Charity  and  Almsgiving       ....  36 

IV.  Charity  and  Martyrdom 50 

V.  Charity  Long-suffering         ....  64 

VI.  Charity  Benignant 77 

VII.  Charity  not  Envious 88 

VIII.  Charity  not  Proud 104 

IX.  Charity  not  Vain 115 

X.  Charity  not  Uncourteous ]^4 

XI.  Charity  not  Selfish 136 

XII.  Charity  not  Irritable 151 

XIII.  Charity  not  Censorious         ....  163 

XIV.  Charity  True  to  Eighteousness      .        .        .  176 
XV.  Charity  Magnanimous  and  Invincible      .  193 

XVI.  Charity  Unfailing  and  Everlasting    .        .  207 

XVII.  Charity  surviving  Knowledge     .        .        .  223 

XVIII.  Charity  in  Relation  to  Faith  and  Hope      .  239 

XIX.  Charity  Suggestive  of  Important  Lessons,  254 

XX.  Charity  enforced  upon  Christian  Practice,  268 

vii 


PAULINE    CHARITY, 


TEXT. 
1  Cor.  xii.  31-xiv.  1. 


Authorized  Version. 

But  covet  earnestly  the 
best  gifts :  and  yet  shew 
I  unto  you  a  more  excel- 
lent way. 

Though  I  speak  with 
the  tongues  of  men  and 
of  angels,  and  have  not 
charity,  I  am  become  as 
sounding  brass,  or  a  tin- 
kling cymbal.  And  though 
I  have  the  gift  of  proph- 
ecy, and  understand  all 
mysteries,  and  all  knowl- 
edge ;  and  though  I  have 
all  faith,  so  that  I  could 
remove  mouutaiss,  and 
have  not  charity,  I  am 
nothing.  And  though  I 
bestow  all  my  goods  to 
feed  the  poor,  and  though 
I  give  my  body  to  be 
burned,  and  have  not 
charity,  it  profiteth  me 
nothing.  Charity  suflfer- 
eth  long,  and  is  kind; 
charity  envieth  not ;  char- 
ity vaunteth  not  itself,  is 
not  puffed  up,  doth  not 
behave  itself  unseemly, 
eeeketh  not  her  own,  is 
not  easily  provoked, 
thinketh  no  evil;  rejoi- 
ceth  not  in  iniquity,  but 
rejoiceth  in  the  truth; 
beareth  all  things,  believ- 
etb    all    things,    bopeth 


Revised  Version. 

But  desire  earnestly  the 
greater  gifts.  And  a  still 
more  excellent  way  shew 
I  unto  you. 

If  I  speak  with  the 
tongues  of  men  and  of 
angels,  but  have  not  love, 
I  am  become  sounding 
brass,  or  a  clanging  cym- 
bal. And  if  I  have  the 
gift  of  prophecy,  and 
know  all  mysteries  and 
all  knowledge;  and  if  I 
have  all  faith,  so  as  to  re- 
move mountains,  but  have 
not  love,  I  am  nothing. 
And  if  I  bestow  all  my 
goods  to  feed  the  poor, 
and  if  I  give  ray  body  to 
be  burned,  but  have  not 
love,  it  proiiteth  me  noth- 
ing. Love  suffereth  long, 
and  is  kind;  love  envieth 
not;  love  vaunteth  not 
itself,  is  not  puffed  up, 
doth  not  behave  itself  un- 
seemly, seeketh  not  its 
own,  is  not  provoked, 
taketh  not  account  of  evil ; 
rejoiceth  not  in  unright- 
eousness, but  rejoiceth 
with  the  truth ;  beareth 
all  things,  believeth  all 
things,  hopeth  all  things, 
endureth  all  things.  Love 
never  faileth ;  but  wheth- 


Version  of  Cont- 
bear^  and  howson. 

But  I  would  have  you 
delight  in  the  best  gifts; 
and  moreover,  beyond 
them  all,  I  will  show  you 
a  path  wherein  to  walk. 

Though  it  were  given 
me  to  speak  in  all  the 
tongues  of  men  and  an- 
gels, if  I  have  not  love,  I 
am  no  better  than  sound- 
ing brass,  or  a  tinkling 
cymbal.  And  although  I 
have  the  gift  of  prophecy, 
and  understand  all  the 
mysteries,  and  all  the 
depths  of  knowledge ; 
and  though  I  have  the 
fulness  of  faith,  so  that  I 
could  remove  mountains; 
if  I  have  not  love,  I  am 
nothing.  And  though  I 
sell  all  my  goods  to  feed 
the  poor,  and  though  I 
give  my  body  to  be 
burned,  if  I  have  not  love, 
it  profits  me  nothing. 
Love  is  long-suffering; 
love  is  kind;  love  envies 
not;  love  speaks  no 
vaunts;  love  shows  no 
vanity;  love  is  never  un- 
courteous;  love  is  never 
selfish ;  love  is  not  easily 
provoked;  love  bears  no 
malice;  love  rejoices  not 
in    the    punishment     of 


PAULINE  CHARITY. 


all  things,  endureth  all 
things.  Charity  never  fail- 
eth :  but  whether  there 
be  prophecies,  they  shall 
fail  ;  whetlier  there  be 
tongues,  they  shall  cease ; 
■whether  there  be  knowl- 
edge, it  shall  vanish  away. 
For  we  know  in  part, 
and  we  prophesy  in  part. 
But  when  that  which  is 
perfect  is  come,  then  that 
which  is  in  part  shall  be 
done  away.  When  I  was 
a  child,  I  spake  as  a  child, 
I  understood  as  a  child, 
I  thought  as  a  child  :  but 
when  I  became  a  man,  I 
put  away  childish  things. 
For  now  we  see  through 
a  glass,  darkly ;  but  then 
face  to  face  :  now  I  know 
in  part;  but  then  shall  I 
know  even  as  also  I  am 
known.  Andnowabideth 
faith,  hope,  charity,  these 
three ;  but  the  greatest  of 
these  is  charity. 
Follow  after  charity. 


er  there  be  prophecies, 
they  shall  be  done  away ; 
whether  there  be  tongues, 
they  shall  cease ;  whether 
there  be  knowledge,  it 
shall  be  done  away.  For 
we  know  in  part,  and 
we  prophesy  in  part :  hut 
when  that  which  is  per- 
fect is  come,  that  which 
is  in  part  shall  be  done 
away.  When  I  was  a 
child,  I  spake  as  a  child, 
I  felt  as  a  child,  I  thought 
as  a  child :  now  that  I  am 
become  a  man,  I  have  put 
away  childish  things.  For 
now  we  see  in  a  mirror, 
darkly;  but  then  face  to 
face :  now  I  know  in  part ; 
but  then  shall  I  know 
even  as  also  I  have  been 
known.  But  now  abideth 
faith,  hope,  love,  these 
three ;  and  the  greatest  of 
these  is  love. 
Follow  after  love. 


wickedness,  but  rejoices 
in  the  victory  of  truth; 
forbears  in  all  things ;  be- 
lieves all  things,  hopes  all 
things,  endures  all  things. 
Love  shall  never  pass 
away;  though  the  gift  of 
prophecy  shall  vanish, 
and  the  gift  of  tongues 
shall  cease,  and  the  gift 
of  knowledge  shall  come 
to  naught.  For  our  knowl- 
edge is  imperfect,  and  our 
prophesying  is  imperfect. 
But  when  the  fulness  of 
perfection  is  come,  then 
all  that  is  imperfect  shall 
pass  away.  When  I  was 
a  child,  my  words  were 
childish,  my  desires  were 
childish,  ray  judgments 
were  childish ;  but  being 
grown  a  man,  I  have  done 
away  with  the  thoughts 
of  childhood.  So  now  we 
see  darkl}',  by  the  reflec- 
tion of  a  mirror,  but  then 
face  to  face;  now  I  know 
in  part,  but  then  shall  I 
know  God,  even  as  now 
I  am  known  by  him.  Yet 
while  other  gifts  shall 
pass  away,  these  three, 
faith,  hope,  and  love, 
abide  forever;  and  th 
greatest  of  these  is  love. 
I  beseech  you  to  follow 
earnestly  after  love. 


CHARITY  DEFINED. 

Covet  earnestly  the  best  gifts;  and  yet  show  T  unto  you  a  more 
excellent  way.  —  1  Cor.  xii.  31. 

A  WISE  and  worthy  custom,  adopted  from  the 
Jewish  synagogue,  was  that  of  the  earliest  Christian 
teachers  —  selecting  for  text  a  large  portion  of  some 
one  of  the  sacred  books,  which  they  expounded 
and  applied  Sunday  after  Sunday  in  consecutive 
order,  so  that  the  hearers  soon  obtained  a  complete 
exposition  of  that  part  of  the  Word  of  God,  and 
after  a  longer  season  an  oral  commentary  of  the  entire 
book,  and  at  length  in  some  instances  of  the  whole 
volume  of  Divine  Scripture.  This  homiletical  method, 
commonly  called  the  expository,  was  especially  well 
adapted  to  those  times  when  —  the  art  of  printing 
being  as  yet  unknown —  books  were  laboriously  mul- 
tiplied by  the  pen,  and  copies  of  the  Holy  Writings 
were  very  rare,  and  few  were  able  either  to  purchase 
or  to  peruse  them.  But  even  in  the  present  age, 
when  printed  books  are  abundant  and  the  masses 
everywhere  can  read,  the  primitive  practice  has  many 
advantages  over  the  more  popular  style  of  modern 
preaching ;  in  which  a  single  sentence  —  often  a  mere 
phrase  —  wrested  from  its  connection,  is  made  the 

3 


4  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

motto  of  a  learned  essay  or  an  elaborate  oration,  and 
man  speaks  much  and  God  but  little.  With  other 
evils  not  less  deplorable,  this  perversion  of  the  pulpit 
is  our  inheritance  from  the  mediaeval  schoolmen, 
wofully  exaggerated  by  the  great  French  masters  — 
Bossuet,  Bourdaloue,  Massillon,  and  the  Protestant 
Saurin ;  and  a  pity  and  a  shame  it  is,  that  heaven's 
gracious  evangel  should  be  so  mangled  and  muti- 
lated in  its  communication,  its  richest  revelations 
buried  beneath  the  rubbish  of  human  theories,  locked 
up  in  logical  formulae,  or  smothered  with  flowers  of 
rhetoric.  In  the  Eastern  Church,  however,  the  an- 
cient custom,  so  grandly  exemplified  in  the  Homilies 
of  St.  Chr3^sostom,  is  still  very  generally  observed; 
and  I  am  glad  to  say  it  is  becoming  more  common  in 
the  Anglican  and  American,  many  of  our  most  emi- 
nent preachers  being  largely  indebted  to  it,  under 
the  divine  blessing,  for  the  success  of  their  ministry. 
Following  in  such  worthy  footsteps,  as  God  may  give 
me  ability,  I  begin  to-night  a  series  of  discourses 
on  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  the  First  Epistle  to  the 
Corinthians  —  Chaeity  accokding  to  St.  Paul. 
The  subject  is  one,  and  I  shall  endeavor  to  observe 
unity  in  its  treatment,  so  that  each  successive 
homily  will  be  closely  connected  with  the  preceding, 
rendering  it  desirable  that  those  who  would  profit 
by  this  presentation  of  apostolic  teaching  should 
hear  the  whole  series  to  its  close. 

The  most  distinguished  intellectual  endowments  — 
native,  acquired,  or  miraculous  —  may  unquestion- 
ably co-exist  with  great  moral  defects  and  infirmities 


CHARITY  DEFINED.  5 

The  Corinthian  Christians,  by  the  Holy  Ghost  "en- 
riched in  all  utterance  and  in  all  knowledge,"  so  that 
they  "came  behind  in  no  gift,"  but  excelled  their 
brethren  of  all  other  cities  and  provinces,  were  nev- 
ertheless sadly  wanting  in  that  which  is  far  more 
important  to  the  complete  exemplification  of  Chris- 
tianity—  the  spirit  of  brotherly  love.  Very  severely 
in  this  Epistle  the  Apostle  animadverts  upon  their 
partisan  jealousies  and  contentions,  and  most  ear- 
nestly remonstrates  against  the  turbulent  acerbity 
with  which  they  maintain  the  respective  claims  to 
pre-eminence  of  their  several  favorites  in  the  apos- 
tolate.  Having  explained  the  nature,  origin,  utility, 
mutual  relations  and  dependences,  of  the  amazing 
spiritual  manifestations  which  were  the  occasions  of 
so  much  envy  and  strife  among  them ;  he  proceeds 
to  tell  them  how  charity,  in  these  absorbing  ques- 
tions so  neglected  and  forgotten,  by  these  unseemly 
controversies  so  injured  and  outraged  before  the 
world,  immeasurably  transcends  them  all.  Their 
miraculous  and  inspirational  powers  he  neither 
doubts  nor  depreciates,  but  commends  to  their  prac- 
tical attention  something  of  vastly  superior  moment. 
To  "covet  earnestly  the  best  gifts  "  — not  the  most 
showy,  but  the  most  useful  —  is  his  advice  ;  but  not 
dwelling  upon  a  matter  comparatively  unessential 
to  their  Christian  edification,  he  turns  immediately  to 
point  out  to  them  "  a  more  excellent  way." 

If  in  the  division  of  the  Scriptures  into  chapters 
and  verses — a  modern  expedient  chiefly  for  con- 
venience of  reference  —  this  last  verse  of  the  twelfth 
chapter  had  been  made  the  first  of  the  thirteenth,  it 


b  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

would  have  been  better,  since  here  the  Apostle  intro- 
duces the  subject  of  which  he  there  treats  with  so 
much  beauty  and  powc^r.     Let  us  read :  — 

"Though  I  speak  with  the  tongues  of  men  and  of  angels, 
and  have  not  charity,  I  am  become  as  sounding  brass,  or  a  tin- 
kling cymbal.  And  though  I  have  the  gift  of  prophecy,  and 
understand  all  mysteries,  and  all  knowledge;  and  though  I 
have  all  faith,  so  that  I  could  remove  mountains,  and  have  not 
charity,  I  am  nothing.  And  though  I  bestow  all  my  goods  to 
feed  the  poor,  and  though  I  give  my  body  to  be  burned,  and 
have  not  charity,  it  profiteth  me  nothing.  Charity  suffereth 
long,  and  is  kind ;  charity  envieth  not  ;  charity  vaunteth  not  it- 
self, is  not  puffed  up,  doth  not  behave  itself  unseemly ;  seeketh 
not  her  own,  is  not  easily  provoked,  thinketh  no  evil ;  rejoiceth 
not  in  iniquity,  but  rejoiceth  in  the  truth ;  beareth  all  things, 
believeth  all  things,  hopeth  all  things,  endureth  all  things. 
Charity  never  f  aileth :  but  whether  there  be  prophecies,  they 
shall  fail ;  whether  there  be  tongues,  they  shall  cease ;  whether 
there  be  knowledge,  it  shall  vanish  away.  For  we  know  in 
part,  and  we  prophesy  in  part ;  but  when  that  which  is  perfect 
is  come,  then  that  which  is  in  part  shall  be  done  away.  When 
I  was  a  child,  I  spake  as  a  child,  I  understood  as  a  child,  I 
thought  as  a  child;  but  when  I  became  a  man,  I  put  away 
childish  things.  For  now  we  see  through  a  glass,  darkly  ;  but 
then  face  to  face :  now  I  know  in  part ;  but  then  shall  I  know 
even  as  also  I  am  known.  And  now  abideth  faith,  hope,  charity, 
these  three ;  but  the  greatest  of  these  is  charity." 

For  moral  elevation,  there  is  nothing  equal  to  this 
in  any  human  literature.  No  Plato  or  Seneca  ever 
uttered  a  sentiment  of  such  transcendent  beauty. 
Even  in  the  word  of  God,  I  know  of  no  parallel  to 
the  passage  —  even  in  the  Epistles  of  St.  John,  who 
wrote  so  much  upon  the  subject,  and  learned  his 
lesson  on  the  Saviour's  heart.  It  is  the  highest 
encomium  of  the  Queen  of  Graces  that  genius  ever 


CHARITY  DEFINED.  7 

indited ;  and  what  more  could  man,  however  inspired 
of  God,  say  in  her  praise  ?  Yet  here  is  no  exaggera- 
tion, no  distortion  of  the  virtue  commended,  nor 
depreciation  of  any  other  Christian  quality  or  duty. 
All  is  just,  exact,  proportionate,  because  all  is  divine. 
Charity,  in  whatever  aspect  regarded  —  whether  in 
its  abstract  principle,  or  in  its  relative  importance, 
or  in  its  enumerated  attributes,  or  in  its  immeasur- 
able duration,  or  in  its  asserted  superiority  to  faith 
and  hope  —  is  manifestly  worthy  of  its  apostolic 
designation  —  The  moke  excellent  way. 

That  we  may  understand  the  nature  of  this  virtue 
—  which  ought  to  be  our  first  inquiry  —  it  is  neces- 
sary to  begin  with  a  definition  of  the  term. 

The  Greek  word  ayaTrr;  means  love.  In  the  Revised 
Version  of  the  New  Testament,  as  also  by  Conybeare 
and  Howson,  it  is  uniformly  so  translated.  Even  in 
our  Authorized  Version  this  is  the  common  render- 
ing ;  as,  "  Faith  worketh  by  love  "  —  "  The  fruit  of  the 
Spirit  is  love  "  —  "  Love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law." 
Frequently,  however,  the  translation  here  is  charity ; 
as,  "  The  end  of  the  commandment  is  charity "  — 
"  Add  to  brotherly  kindness  charity  "  —  "  These  are 
spots  in  your  feasts  of  charity"  —  "Timotheus 
brought  us  good  tidings  of  your  charity  "  —  "  Charity 
covereth  the  multitude  of  sins."  And  a  dozen  other 
instances  might  be  adduced,  besides  those  compre- 
hended in  the  Pauline  passage  of  which  we  discourse. 
Throughout  this  chapter  the  word  used  is  tlie  same, 
and  the  thing  so  highly  eulogized  is  love. 

But  love  to  whom?  to  God,  or  to  man?     To  man 


8  PAULINE,  CHARITY. 

certainly  —  to  man  only  —  not  to  God.  Sometimes, 
indeed,  the  term  is  used  for  love  to  God,  but  not  in 
this  place,  for  in  every  instance  the  properties  here 
ascribed  to  charity  relate  to  man  alone.  Love  to 
man,  therefore  —  to  man  good  or  bad,  just  or  unjust, 
saved  or  unsaved,  in  the  Church  or  out  of  it  —  to 
man  the  neighbor,  the  brother,  the  fellow-pilgrim, 
fellow-soldier,  fellow-sufferer,  sharing  our  common 
nature,  redemption  and  destiny  —  love  to  universal 
man  —  is  the  charity  thus  described  by  St.  Paul. 

But  what  kind  of  love  to  man?  Such  as  nature 
may  prompt  or  culture  develop?  No,  but  a  purer 
and  nobler  affection,  inspired  by  the  Holy  Spirit  in 
the  regenerate  heart  —  divine  in  its  source,  its  rule, 
and  its  end  —  its  source  the  love  of  God,  its  rule  the 
law  of  God,  its  end  the  glory  of  God.  The  first  and 
greatest  commandment,  our  Saviour  tells  us,  is  that 
of  supreme  love  to  God ;  and  the  second,  which  is 
like  it,  that  of  disinterested  love  to  the  neighbor. 
St.  John  reiterates  the  statement  when  he  says: 
"  This  commandment  have  we  from  him,  that  he 
who  loveth  God  love  his  brother  also ;  "  and  again  ; 
"  He  that  loveth  not  his  brother  whom  he  hath  seen, 
how  can  he  love  God  whom  he  hath  not  seen?" 
The  person  who  supremely  loves  God  cherishes  a 
supreme  regard  for  God's  revealed  will ;  and  when 
God  requires  him  to  love  his  neighbor  as  himself  — 
to  love  his  enemies,  and  requite  their  curses  with 
blessings,  their  hatred  with  kind  offices,  their  despite 
and  persecution  with  prayers  for  their  well-being  — 
casting  himself  upon  the  gracious  aid  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  he  strives  to  restrain  the  selfish  and  malevo- 


CHARITY  DEFINED.  d 

lent  tendencies  of  his  nature,  carefully  cultivates  a 
friendlj  and  fraternal  feeling,  forgives  the  injuries 
he  receives,  relieves  the  miseries  he  beholds,  and  does 
whatever  he  can  to  reform,  improve  and  save.  And 
the  chief  impulse  to  such  action  is  an  intense 
desire  to  glorify  God,  seeking  the  good  of  the  crea- 
ture only  as  subordinate  to  the  glory  of  the  Creator, 
striving  for  the  welfare  of  the  human  brotherhood 
always  by  such  means  and  in  such  manner  only  as 
shall  honor  the  perfections  and  magnify  the  preroga- 
tives of  the  Father  who  is  in  heaven.  As  the  water  "^ 
exhaled  from  the  sea  falls  in  refreshing  rains  and 
reviving  dews  upon  field  and  forest,  meadow  and 
mountain,  thirsty  soil  and  withered  herbage,  and  then 
by  a  thousand  channels  flows  back  again  to  the  sea ; 
so  charity,  coming' forth  from  God,  scatters  its  bless- 
ings among  the  children  of  men,  and  with  its  gath- 
ered revenue  of  love  and  praise  returns  to  the 
bosom  of  God.  God  is  its  Alpha  and  Omega  —  the 
fountain  whence  it  issues,  and  the  ocean  where  it 
empties. 

"  He  poorly  loves  God,"  writes  a  revered  father  of 
the  Church,  "  who  loves  any  thing  beside  him  that 
he  does  not  love  for  him."  Again :  "  We  love  any 
thing  the  more  truly  and  rightly,  the  more  explicitly 
we  acknowledge  and  love  God  in  it."  ^  Love  to  God 
is  the  tree  ;  love  to  man  is  the  delicious  fruit  it  bears. 
Love  to  God  is  the  mountain  spring ;  love  to  man  is 
the  fertilizing  stream  it  sends  singing  through  the 
landscape.  We  love  God  for  his  own  sake,  man  for 
God's  sake ;  the  child,  because  we  love  the  Father ; 

1  St.  AugustiDe. 


IC  PAULINE  CHAKITY. 

the  subject,  because  we  love  the  Sovereign ;  the  crea- 
ture, because  we  love  the  Creator;  the  redeemed, 
because  we  love  the  Redeemer;  the  sanctified,  be- 
cause we  love  the  Sanctifier;  the  bride  of  Christ, 
because  we  love  her  divine  Beloved.  Our  kindest 
feelings,  warmest  affections,  deepest  sympathies,  ten- 
derest  compassions,  most  magnanimous  endeavors, 
and  most  munificent  donations,  do  not  amount  to 
Christian  charity  after  the  Pauline  ideal,  unless 
they  spring  from  the  love  of  God,  with  the  law  of 
God  for  their  rule,  and  the  glory  of  God  for  their 
end. 

And  the  principle  is  the  same,  however  diversified 
in  manifestation  by  the  varie.ty  of  its  objects.  Rich 
or  poor,  high  or  low,  free  or  bond,  civil  or  savage, 
spiritual  or  sensual,  strong  in  faith  or  utterly  unbe- 
lieving, in  recognized  covenant  with  Christ  or  practi- 
cally alienated  from  the  life  of  God,  charity  looks 
upon  all  as  the  proper  objects  of  her  tender  regard 
and  beneficent  agenc}^  She  loves  the  righteous  in 
God,  and  the  wicked  for  God ;  the  former  with  holy 
complacency,  the  latter  with  gracious  commiseration. 
In  these  she  beholds  the  divine  image,  once  lost,  but 
now  by  the  Spirit  of  holiness  restored ;  in  those  she 
discerns  some  faint  traces  of  the  same  divine  image, 
sadly  marred  and  blurred  by  sin,  but  susceptible  of 
perfect  restoration  through  the  mercy  and  the  merit 
of  Christ.  This  image  of  God,  these  traces  of  God's 
image,  are  the  appeals  in  humanity  to  her  love ;  and 
in  both  cases  the  principle  is  identical,  produced  by 
the  same  Divine  Spirit,  subject  to  the  same  divine 
impulse,  aspiring  to  the  same  divine  result,  though 


CHARITY   DEFINED.  11 

modified  in  its  phases  by  the  difference  of  character 
in  the  objects  to  whom  it  is  directed. 

And  thus  it  is  easy  to  see  that  charity  is  no  capri- 
cious and  inconstant  emotion  —  no  vacillating  thing  i 
affected  by  every  veering  wind  of  fortune  ;  but  a 
stable  principle,  a  steadfast  character,  a  uniform 
habitude,  unchanged  by  the  tide  of  human  muta- 
tions, neither  discouraged  by  difficulty  nor  conquered 
by  hate  —  like  its  divine  Author  and  Exemplar,  "  the 
same  yesterday  and  to-day  and  forever  "  —  pardoning 
the  offender,  blessing  the  re  viler,  turning  the  other 
cheek  to  the  smiter,  and  praying  for  its  crucifiers 
from  the  cross.  And  being  the  product  of  the  grace 
of  God,  it  may  exist  where  there  is  very  little  consti- 
tutional geniality  or  tenderness  of  heart  —  where  the 
natural  temper  is  cold  as  the  arctic  winter  and  sterile 
as  the  ocean  strand ;  flourishing  like  the  mountain 
cedar  upon  the  face  of  the  naked  rock ;  blossoming 
like  the  rhododendron  upon  the  margin  of  the  al- 
pine snows ;  diffusing  its  fragrance  like  the  rose  of 
Psestum  through  an  atmosphere  of  miasma  and 
death.  In  short,  a  religious  and  holy  affection,  beau- 
tiful as  the  love  of  angels,  beneficent  in  its  measure 
as  the  love  of  God,  of  his  grace  begotten,  by  his  word 
governed,  and  with  his  glory  crowned,  charity  most 
unquestionably  merits  its  apostolic  title.  —  The  more 

EXCELLENT  WAY. 

Few  things  in  morals  or  religion  have  been  more 
misapprehended  than  the  nature  of  this  grand  Chris- 
tian virtue ;  and  some  of  the  popular  mistakes  about  it 
our  preliminary  survey  will  enable  us  now  to  correct. 


12  PAULINE   CHARITY. 

One  of  these  makes  charity  mere  ahnsgiving.  He 
who  feeds  the  hungry,  clothes  the  naked,  houses  the 
homeless,  and  doles  out  dimes  to  mendicants,  is 
deemed  a  charitable  man.  If  on  a  larger  scale  he 
provides  relief  for  pauperism,  furnishes  a  rest  and  a 
refuge  for  aged  indigence,  devises  support  and  educa- 
tion for  helpless  orphanage,  freights  a  ship  with  corn 
for  starving  Egypt  or  Ireland,  builds  a  hospital  or  a 
cathedral  in  his  city,  founds  a  college  or  endows  a 
professorship,  leaves  a  rich  legacy  to  some  public 
institution  from  the  treasure  he  can  enjoy  no  more, 
he  is  lauded  as  a  marvel  and  model  of  charity.  And 
charity  all  this  may  be,  or  something  very  different 
from  charity.  It  may  be  pure  love.  Christlike  love ; 
or  it  may  be  vanity,  ambition,  ostentation,  unmixed 
and  unmitigated  selfishness.  For  similar  deeds  the 
Pharisees  were  famous ;  but  in  charity  they  were  sadly 
deficient.  Publicly  they  dispensed  their  bounty  to 
their  needy  brethren,  and  displayed  their  pompous 
offerings  to  the  altar  and  the  synagogue  —  all  to  be 
seen  of  men,  to  obtain  glory  of  men ;  but  charity, 
content  with  the  approval  of  conscience  and  the  com- 
mendation of  Heaven,  quietly  distributes  its  alms  in 
secret,  and  lets  not  the  left  hand  know  what  the  right 
hand  doeth ;  and  one  might  give  all  his  goods  to  feed 
the  poor,  making  himself  as  poor  as  the  poverty  he 
feeds,  and  yet  be  more  destitute  of  charity  than  his 
pauper  clients  ever  were  of  bread. 

Another  common  mistake  confounds  Christian 
charity  with  natural  benevolence.  There  is  a  cer- 
tain generosity,  magnanimity,  amiability,  patriotic 
sentimentality  —  a   high  sense   of  honor,  a  regard 


CHARITY   DEFINED.  13 

for  public  virtue,  a  concern  for  the  interests  of  one's 
own  neighborhood,  a  constitutional  tenderness  of 
heart,  a  ready  sympathy  with  human  suffering  — 
which  go  far  to  make  the  good  neighbor,  the  good 
citizen,  and  beautify  all  the  relations  of  social  life. 
These  are  qualities  which  all  must  admire  and  ap- 
plaud. Pictures  of  charity  we  may  call  them,  statues 
of  charity,  corpses  of  charity;  but  they  want  its 
divine  life,  its  genial  warmth,  its  spiritual  reality 
and  power.  Innate  tendencies,  modified  by  culture 
and  circumstance,  and  finding  their  highest  motive 
often  in  utility,  and  their  strongest  impulse  in  self- 
gratification,  they  are  equally  void  of  moral  worth 
and  of  Christian  principle.  Charity  is  an  evangelic 
virtue,  a  divine  implantation,  one  of  the  chief  fruits 
of  the  Spirit,  the  distinctive  evidence  of  a  renovated 
and  purified  heart.  God  is  love,  and  in  entering  the 
human  soul  he  fills  it  with  love.  He  restores  it  to 
his  own  image,  and  that  image  is  love.  He  imparts 
to  it  something  of  his  own  nature,  and  that  nature  is 
love.  Without  the  new  creation  in  Christ  Jesus,  the 
cleansed  heart  and  rectified  spirit  for  which  the  peni- 
tent Psalmist  prays,  there  can  be  no  charity  after  the 
Pauline  pattern.  Such  charity  is  not  natural  good- 
ness, but  practical  Christianity;  not  a  generous  in- 
stinct, but  the  powerful  constraint  of  redeeming  love  ; 
not  a  spontaneous  outgrowth  of  the  human  heart,  but 
a  vine  of  God,  indigenous  only  to  Calvary,  clinging  to 
the  cross  and  blossoming  beneath  its  crimson  dew. 

There  is  a  third  error,  which  credits  with  this 
lofty  virtue  any  generous  estimate  of  a  neighbor's 
good  qualities.     We   have   all   met  with  instances, 


14  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

more  or  less  remarkable,  of  that  human  "kindness 
which  puts  the  best  construction  it  can  upon  the 
objectionable  words  and  actions  of  others,  over- 
looking their  slighter  faults  and  infirmities,  and  mak- 
ing large  allowance  for  errors  and  delinquencies  of 
a  more  serious  character.  To  such  favorable  judg- 
ment, within  the  limits  of  truth  and  justice.  Chris- 
tian charity  does  indeed  very  strongly  incline  the 
heart ;  but  when  heretics  and  schismatics  —  profli- 
gates and  blasphemers  —  men  void  of  faith  and  hos- 
tile to  religion  —  are  recognized  as  Christians  and 
taken  into  Christian  fellowship,  what  is  it  but  moral 
indifference  that  is  dignified  with  the  name  of  this 
noble  virtue  ?  Charity  is  enlightened  and  discrimi- 
nating; rejoicing  in  the  good,  the  pure,  the  true; 
while  it  grieves  over  error,  pities  all  delusion,  and 
hates  iniquity  with  the  hatred  of  God.  It  is  valiant 
for  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  because  that  truth  is  the 
basis  of  all  Christian  virtue.  It  contends  earnestly 
for  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints,  because  that 
faith  is  the  channel  of  salvation  to  all  them  that 
believe.  To  that  which  is  hostile  to  men's  highest 
and  holiest  interests,  it  can  no  more  be  reconciled 
than  light  to  darkness  or  God  to  Satan.  To  make 
sincerity  in  error  and  unbelief  one  with  the  firm 
grasp  of  the  great  catholic  verities  —  to  make  the 
superstitious  devotion  of  the  heathen  one  with  the 
pure  service  of  the  Father  of  our  spirits  —  to  make 
obedience  to  the  false  prophet  and  prayer  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin  one  with  loyalty  to  the  living  God 
and  reliance  upon  Jesus  Christ  whom  he  hath  sent  — 
to  make  an  utterly  ungodly  life,  without  church  or 


CHARITY  DEFINED.  15 

ministry,  without  prayer  or  sacrament,  without  any 
aspiration  after  heavenly  fellowship,  any  recognition 
of  religious  obligation,  any  habitual  outlook  toward 
an  eternal  hereafter,  one  with  that  personal  consecra- 
tion within  the  blessed  bond  of  the  covenant,  which 
feels  itself  a  pilgrim  and  stranger  on  earth,  having 
its  conversation  and  citizenship  in  heaven,  living 
only  to  the  Lord  and  glad  to  die  for  his  glory  —  what 
is  it  but  to  confound  truth  with  falsehood,  good  with 
evil,  Christ  with  Belial  —  to  disregard  all  moral  dis- 
tinctions, and  degrade  the  gospel  which  it  is  the 
office  of  charity  to  honor? 

Who  has  not  heard  the  popular  outcry  of  the  day  ? 
"  Down  with  your  creeds  !  Away  with  your  dogmas  ! 
Have  done  with  your  theology !  Out  upon  the 
Church  that  has  so  long  enslaved  her  children  and 
tyrannized  over  the  world !  Let  us  at  length  have 
liberty  of  thought  and  of  conscience  I  A  man  ought 
to  be  held  no  more  responsible  for  his  religious  opin- 
ions than  for  the  color  of  his  eyes  and  hair.  What 
matters  my  belief  or  unbelief,  if  I  am  honest  and 
virtuous  ?  Not  what  I  think,  but  what  I  do,  makes 
me  what  I  am.  Call  me  heretic  if  you  will  —  call  me 
sceptic,  infidel,  reprobate ;  but  my  difference  with 
you  in  these  matters  involves  no  guilt,  and  cannot 
imperil  my  eternal  fate."  Such  is  the  cant  of  the 
illogical  liberalism  of  our  age,  and  its  callow  dis- 
cipleship  hail  it  as  the  voice  of  an  oracle,  and  applaud 
it  in  the  name  of  charity.  But  with  these  puerile 
absurdities  charity  has  no  more  to  do  than  they  have 
to  do  with  reason.  To  charity,  truth  is  dearer  than 
the  daylight,  furnishing  the   impulse   to   duty,  the 


16  PAULINE  CHAEITY. 

basis  of  virtue,  the  means  of  regener?tion,  and  the 
mould  in  which  character  is  cast  for  eternity.  If 
Christ  is  the  light  of  the  world,  to  discard  his  doc- 
trine is  to  plunge  into  darkness.  If  Christ  is  the 
way  to  the  Father,  to  reject  his  gospel  is  to  alienate 
the  soul  more  utterly  from  God.  Opposite  causes 
produce  opposite  effects;  and  if  truth  purifies,  error 
must  pollute ;  and  if  truth  vivifies,  error  must  dead- 
en ;  and  if  truth  edifies,  error  must  destroy.  Indif- 
ference to  error,  therefore,  is  no  part  of  charity ;  but 
zeal  for  the  truth  is  one  of  its  essential  elements. 
Charity  requires  us  to  avoid  false  teachers,  and  to 
warn  their  deluded  followers  of  their  danger.  When 
the  apostle  of  charity,^repairing  to  the  public  baths, 
found  Cerinthus  there,  he  said  to  his  friends  :  "  Let 
us  hasten  to  depart  from  this  place,  lest  we  perish 
with  the  apostate  from  the  faith ! "  And  the  same 
gentle  and  loving  disciple  writes  to  his  brethren  to 
receive  no  man,  nor  bid  him  God-speed,  who  brings 
not  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  lest  they  be  partakers  of 
his  iniquity.  And  the  inspired  author  of  the  glori- 
ous encomium  of  charity  on  which  we  discourse 
would  anathematize  any  man,  or  even  an  angel  from 
heaven,  who  should  come  preaching  another  gospel 
than  his  own.  And  if  the  Christian  faith  is  a  matter 
of  no  moment,  and  the  denial  of  it  imperils  not  the 
issues  of  redemption,  why  does  he  charge  Timothy 
so  solemnly  to  take  heed  to  the  doctrine,  and  hold 
fast  the  form  of  sound  words,  that  he  may  save  both 
himself  and  them  that  hear  him?  And  think  you 
the  Son  of  God  descended  into  our  planet  to  teach 
what  no  man  is  bound  to  believe,  and  sent  forth  his 


CHARITY  DEFINED.  17 

apostles  to  proclaim  what  all  men  are  at  liberty  to 
reject?  And  if  I  may  discard  one  article  of  the 
Christian  faith  and  be  guiltless,  why  may  I  not  be 
guiltless  in  discarding  all  ?  Error  innoxious  ?  Un- 
belief innocent  and  safe  ?  Nay,  it  is  rebellion  against 
the  King  of  truth,  and  contempt  of  his  royal  bride. 
I  cannot  be  indifferent  to  faith,  without  being  false 
to  her  sister  charity.  If  my  neighbor  cherishes  a 
deadly  delusion,  does  this  angel  of  God  on  earth  lay 
her  hand  upon  my  lips  and  breathe  a  paralyzing  frost 
upon  my  heart?  No  !  She  touches  my  mouth  with 
a  living  coal  from  the  altar,  and  bids  me  lift  up  my 
voice  like  a  trumpet.  And  the  more  I  love  my 
neighbor  as  myself,  the  more  prompt  will  be  my  obe- 
dience and  the  more  earnest  my  remonstrance. 

And  so  with  regard  to  morals.  Some,  indeed, 
would  have  us  believe  that  charity  consists  in  allow- 
ing the  largest  liberty  to  human  conduct,  and  over- 
looking or  extenuating  the  faults  and  follies  of 
mankind.  Professing  the  charity  of  Christ,  you  are 
expected  to  let  others  live  as  they  like,  and  never 
interfere  with  their  indulgence  of  guilty  passion,  nor 
interpose  any  barrier  to  arrest  their  progress  toward 
the  pit,  nor  dash  from  their  lips  the  chalice  charged 
to  the  brim  with  the  wormwood  and  gall  of  the 
second  death.  You  must  give  things  gentle  names, 
and  speak  politely  of  vice  and  villany,  and  blindfold 
with  silken  bandages  the  sinner  whose  footsteps  are 
taking  hold  on  hell.  If  out  of  purest  love  you  faith- 
fully reprove  the  transgressor,  you  are  called  unchari- 
table ;  and  if  for  the  sake  of  the  public  health  you 
ostracise  the  moral  leper,  it  is  denounced  as  an  out- 


18  PAULINE   CHARITY. 

rage  upon  charity.  Is  not  the  bare  statement  of 
such  sentiments  sufficient  proof  of  their  unsound- 
ness? Are  they  not  to  be  attributed  to  a  defective 
view  of  moral  obligation,  or  an  utter  insensibility  to 
the  terrible  evil  of  sin  ?  If  charity  is  the  end  of  the 
commandment,  how  can  it  connive  at  that  which 
antagonizes  the  commandment?  If  charity  is  the 
fulfilling  of  the  law,  how  can  it  be  friendly  with  that 
which  ruthlessly  violates  the  law  ?  Charity  proceeds 
from  love  to  God ;  but  how  can  we  love  God,  who  is 
essential  holiness,  and  not  hate  iniquity?  Charity 
is  the  outgrowth  of  a  ^pure  heart ;  but  how  can  the 
heart  be  purified,  and  not  abhor  the  abominable  thing 
at  which  all  purity  revolts?  If  one  undertake  to 
burn  your  barn,  poison  your  well,  or  stab  you  in 
your  bed,  would  you  call  it  charity  in  me  to  encour- 
age him  with  my  favor  and  my  flattery  ?  What  sort 
of  charity  is  it,  then,  to  look  with  good-natured  in- 
dulgence upon  deeds  which  are  hostile  to  all  your 
higher  interest^,  and  allow  you  to  cherish  unchecked 
those  evil  passions  and  practices  which  peril  your 
blood-redeemed  inheritance  in  heaven?  To  think 
lightly  of  offending  God  and  grieving  his  Holy  Spirit 
—  to  excuse  or  extenuate  deeds  that  angels  might 
weep  over,  and  holy  men  cannot  contemplate  with- 
out tears  —  to  lull  the  guilty  conscience  into  a  fatal 
lethargy  by  gentle  complacency  toward  that  which 
slew  the  Son  of  God,  and  is  daily  blotting  out  the 
immortal  hopes  of  men  —  this  is  not  charity,  but 
cruelty  to  the  soul  —  closing  the  eye  which  charity 
would  open  —  concealing  the  pit  which  charity  would 
uncover  —  hushing  the  warning  voice  which  charity 


CHARITY  DEFmED.  19 

would  swell  to  thunder-tones  —  removing  the  blessed 
barrier  which  charity  has  thrown  athwart  the  sinner's 
path  to  hell.  Though  charity  is  very  tender  and 
very  tolerant,  never  searching  for  faults,  nor  exagger- 
ating them  when  found,  nor  subjecting  them  to  too 
rigorous  a  censorsliip ;  always  making  due  allowance 
for  the  weakness  of  the  flesh  and  the  strength  of 
temptation,  and  rejoicing  in  the  exercise  of  pardon 
to  the  penitent;  yet  is  it  keenly  alive  to  the  evil 
which  the  transgressor  is  bringing  upon  himself,  and 
anxious  by  every  means  at  command  to  avert  the 
incalculable  consequences  of  his  misdoing  —  saving 
him  with  fear,  pulling  him  out  of  the  fire.  Never 
denunciatory,  nor  unnecessarily  severe  in  judgment ; 
it  will  not  court  the  favor  of  the  wicked,  nor  encour- 
age their  self-deception,  by  unjust  indulgence  to  their 
vices,  or  practical  disregard  of  their  impending  pun- 
ishment. Was  David  wanting  in  charity  ?  yet  with 
perfect  hatred  he  hated  the  workers  of  iniquity. 
Was  St.  Paul  wanting  in  charity?  yet  like  a  bolt 
from  heaven  he  launches  his  anathema  against  the 
man  that  loves  not  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Are  the 
angels  wanting  in  charity?  yet  how  terribly  does 
the  fate  of  Sodom,  of  the  Egyptian  first-born,  and 
the  Assyrian  besiegers  of  Jerusalem,  indicate  their 
feelings  toward  the  guilty  !  Is  our  Redeemer  want- 
ing in  charity  ?  yet  with  what  appalling  words  does 
he  denounce  the  wicked,  with  what  awful  solemnity 
declare  their  everlasting  condemnation,  with  what 
unparalleled  imagery  describe  their  immitigable  doom 
in  the  world  to  come  !  Not  to  the  person,  but  to  the 
character,  is  the  repugnance  so  strongly  expressed. 


20  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

Not  to  the  creature,  but  to  the  transgressor,  is  the 
punishment  so  terribly  foretold.  The  evil-doer  it  is, 
the  rebel  against  God,  the  enemy  to  the  cross  of 
Christ,  who  is  so  frightfully  menaced  with  retribu- 
tion ;  and  the  severity  of  rebuke  and  the  urgency  of 
admonition  are  prompted  less  by  the  anger  of  aven- 
ging holiness  than  by  the  meek  and  melting  heart  of 
charity.  Very  pleasant,  indeed,  to  those  who  love 
their  sins,  and  will  not  renounce  their  idols,  and  wish 
not  to  be  disturbed  in  their  indulgence  of  guilty 
passions,  must  be  the  voice  of  the  false  prophet 
assuring  them  of-' safety  and  beguiling  their  fears 
with  a  song  of  peace ;  "  and  yet  show  I  unto  you  a 
more  excellent  way." 

Of  all  that  we  have  thus  far  said,  this  is  the  sum. 
Charity  is  love  to  man  in  its  purest,  noblest  and 
divinest  form  —  the  transcendent  fruit  of  the  Spirit, 
the  incomparable  virtue  of  Christianity,  the  epitome 
of  all  social  morality,  the  characteristic  beauty  of 
holiness,  the  native  element  of  angels,  and  the  per- 
fect image  of  God.  For  sweetness  and  majesty, 
nothing  can  compete  with  love  —  nothing  in  earth  or 
heaven  can  contest  the  palm  with  love.  No  other 
perfection  of  the  Supreme  is  so  often  mentioned  in 
his  word,  or  so  largely  displayed  in  his  works.  Love 
is  his  favorite  name,  and  the  only  single  term  in 
which  he  ever  defined  his  moral  nature  to  man.  He 
first  created  worlds  that  he  might  have  objects  to 
love,  and  still  he  lavishes  all  the  wealth  of  his  love 
upon  the  worlds  which  he  has  created.  Love  clothes 
the  forest,  and  paints  the  field.     The  breeze  is  bur- 


CHAEITY  DEFINED.  21 

dened  with  its  melody,  and  the  sunbeam  is  but  the 
shadow  of  its  splendor.  Love  is  the  light  of  all  the 
unsmitten  orbs  of  space  —  the  beauty  of  their  home- 
bloom,  and  the  glory  of  their  remote  effulgence. 
God  is  the  source  of  love,  heaven  is  the  home  of 
love.  Scripture  is  the  record  of  love,  Christianity  is 
the  religion  of  love,  the  incarnation  of  the  Logos  is 
love's  visible  embodiment,  and  Christ's  ministry  upon 
earth  is  love's  divinest  labor,  and  his  unparalleled 
suffering  is  love's  sublimest  sacrifice,  and  his  resur- 
rection from  the  dead  is  love's  triumph .  over  man's 
last  enemy,  and  his  ascension  to  the  right  hand  of 
the  Father  is  love's  enthronement  and  investiture 
with  the  royal  glories  of  redemption ;  and  in  every 
revelation  of  God,  and  every  manifestation  of  his 
character,  throughout  all  the  illimitable  range  of  his 
operations,  especially  in  the  one  great  achievement 
of  human  restoration  to  his  favor  and  fellowship, 
"omnipotence  is  lost  in  love,"  and  infinite  intelli- 
gence and  wisdom  are  eclipsed  by  love's  superior 
splendor,  and  all  that  seems  most  worthy  of  our 
wonder  and  our  worship  depreciates  in  comparison 

with  the  "  MOEB  EXCELLENT  WAY  !  " 


22  PAULINE  CHARITY. 


II. 

CHARITY   AND   MIRACLES. 

Though  I  speak  with  the  tongues  of  men  and  of  angels,  and  have 
not  charity,  I  am  become  as  sounding  brass  or  a  tinkling  cymbal. 
And  though  I  have  the  gift  of  prophecy,  and  understand  all  myste- 
ries and  all  knowledge;  and  though  I  have  all  faith,  so  that  I  could 
remove  mountains,  and  have  not  charity,  I  am  nothing.  —  1  Cor. 
xiii.  1,  2. 

More  than  eight  hundred  years  had  elapsed  since 
the  prophet  Joel  uttered  the  prediction — "It  shall 
come  to  pass  in  the  last  days,  saith  God,  I  will  pour 
out  my  spirit  upon  all  flesh,  and  your  sons  and  your 
daughters  shall  prophesy,  your  j^oung  men  shall  see 
visions,  and  your  old  men  shall  dream  dreams ;  and 
upon  my  servants  and  upon  my  handmaidens  will  I 
pour  out  of  my  spirit,  and  they  shall  prophesy." 
The  time  was  now  come  for  the  beginning  of  its 
fulfilment  —  the  earnest  of  the  glorious  gifts  which 
were  to  signalize  the  epoch  of  the  world's  regenera- 
tion. The  Messiah  had  appeared  on  earth,  had 
suffered  in  the  flesh,  had  returned  victorious  over 
death  and  hell  to  the  right  hand  of  the  Father, 
whence  he  had  promised  the  heavenly  Comforter 
with  his  miraculous  manifestations  for  the  edification 
of  the  Church.  Still  at  Jerusalem,  in  obedience  to 
the  Master's  order,  the  disciples  awaited  the  promised 


CHAEITY  AND   MIRACLES.  23 

endowment  with  power  from  on  high.  The  day  of 
Pentecost  finds  them  "all  with  one  accord  in  one 
place."  Suddenly,  "a  sound  from  heaven,  as  of  a 
rushing  mighty  wind,"  indicates  the  presence  of  a 
celestial  agency ;  and  "  cloven  tongues  of  lire,"  sit- 
ting on  all  their  heads,  are  the  symbol  and  assurance 
of  their  inspiration.  And  straightway,  all  unlearned 
as  they  are,  they  begin  to  speak  various  languages 
and  dialects;  and  the  men  of  many  nations,  who 
have  come  up  to  the  great  Jewish  festival,  stand 
amazed  to  hear  themselves  addressed  each  in  his 
own  vernacular ;  and  Moses,  the  man  of  God,  looking 
forth  from  his  seat  in  Paradise,  beholds  in  these 
humble  followers  of  the  Prophet  like  unto  himself 
the  incipient  realization  of  his  own  great  wish  uttered 
fifteen  centuries  before  —  "  Would  that  all  the  Lord's 
people  were  prophets,  and  that  God  would  put  his 
Spirit  upon  them  !  " 

Hitherto,  only  a  few  favored  individuals,  one  or 
two  at  a  time,  and  they  generally  of  the  Hebrew 
race,  had  received  any  of  these  powers  of  inspiration 
and  miracle.  Now  they  become  common  to  the 
saints,  the  Gentiles  sharing  as  largely  in  them  as  the 
Jews;  male  and  female,  wise  and  simple,  old  and 
young,  prophesying  in  the  name  of  the  Nazarene, 
speaking  unknown  tongues,  and  doing  many  mighty 
works.  Upon  the  Corinthian  church,  especially,  is 
poured  forth  an  astonishing  profusion  of  spiritual 
gifts ;  spiritual  gifts  of  all  kinds,  and  shared  by  all 
the  members ;  some  exercising  one  and  some  another. 
Enter  the  assembly,  and  witness  the  unparalleled 
wonder ;  peasants,  shepherds,  fishermen,  artisans,  dis- 


24  PAULINE   CHARITY. 

puting  with  sages  and  philosophers,  and  putting  all 
their  learning  and  science  to  shame ;  one  predicting 
a  famine,  a  pestilence,  an  imperial  persecution ;  an- 
other discovering  at  a  glance  the  inmost  thoughts  of 
his  neighbor,  and  rebuking  the  sin  he  has  carefully 
concealed  from  all ;  a  rustic,  whose  lore  is  scarcely 
sufficient  to  enable  him  to  pronounce  the  names  of 
half  a  dozen  of  his  country's  most  famous  authors, 
artists,  warriors,  or  patriots,  discoursing  fluently  and 
beautifully,  in  a  tongue  of  which  he  has  been  hither- 
to totally  ignorant,  on  the  sublimest  matters  of 
revealed  religion;  while  his  fellow  rustic,  equally 
ignorant  of  that  tongue,  and  in  all  respects  equally 
illiterate,  with  the  utmost  readiness  and  the  greatest 
accuracy  translates  every  word  that  is  uttered  into 
the  vernacular  of  the  audience  ;  the  sick,  the  lame,  the 
blind,  the  deaf,  the  dumb,  the  leper,  the  lunatic,  the 
paralytic,  by  a  touch,  a  word,  a  look,  a  mere  voli- 
tion, or  a  passing  shadow,  instantly  cured  of  their 
several  maladies;  demons,  adjured  in  the  name  of 
Jesus,  quitting  the  human  breasts  they  have  long 
tenanted  and  tormented;  and  the  shrouded  corpse 
suddenly  relaxing  its  rigid  muscles,  and  warming 
into  life,  under  the  sweet  soft  breath  of  prayer. 
Verily,  this  is  the  power  of  God  !  What  controver- 
sies of  the  schools  or  declamations  of  the  forum  were 
comparable  with  the  wisdom  and  eloquence  of  these 
untrained  disciples  of  the  Crucified?  What  awful 
Eleusinian  mysteries,  or  oracular  responses  from  the 
fountains  of  Dodona  or  the  sacred  shades  of  Delphi, 
could  match  these  divine  manifestations  ?  Nay,  what 
burning  bush,  or  thundering  mountain,  or  pillar  of 


CHARITY  AND   MIRACLES.  25 

fire  upon  the  tabernacle,  or  glory  of  the  resident 
God  between  the  cherubim,  could  rank  with  these 
gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost?  Yet  St.  Paul  here  tells 
those  who  enjoyed  them  of  something  far  more  de- 
sirable—  of  something  so  important  that,  though  a 
man  possessed  them  all  at  once,  without  that  greater 
blessing  he  were  nothing  better  than  "a  sounding 
brass  or  a  tinkling  cymbal." 

The  Jews  had  many  strange  traditions  about  the 
wonderful  wisdom  and  transcendent  endowments  of 
their  rabbins,  sages  and  seers.  They  told  of  one 
who  spoke  all  the  languages  of  the  earth,  and  of 
another  who  conversed  with  angels  in  their  own 
celestial  vernacular,  and  of  others  again  who  were 
endowed  with  intuitive  universal  knowledge,  under- 
standing all  human  arts  and  sciences  and  all  the 
mysteries  of  religion.  And  then  there  were  their 
prophets,  actually  inspired  of  God,  speaking  of  future 
events  as  though  they  were  the  historic  records  of 
the  past,  and  achieving  marvels  equal  to  the  removal 
of  mountains  by  a  word.  To  these  stupendous 
powers,  supposed  or  real,  in  addition  to  the  extraor- 
dinary spiritual  gifts  exercised  by  his  converts  at 
Corinth,  the  apostle  perhaps  refers,  pronouncing  them 
all  vain  without  charity.  "  What  though  I  spake 
with  the  sweetest  eloquence  in  all  the  languages  and 
dialects  of  the  world ;  and  though  to  these  I  added 
the  burning  words  and  thrilling  tones  of  the  seraphim 
and  the  cherubim ;  and  though  I  could  so  foresee  the 
future  as  to  predict  every  important  event  of  coming 
ages  down  to  the  end  of  time ;  and  though  I  could 


26  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

fathom  all  the  mysteries  of  theology,  and  explain  all 
the  types  and  figures  of  the  Mosaic  Law,  and  inter- 
pret infalUbly  every  prophecy  of  the  Old  Testament, 
and  comprehend  intuitively  all  human  science  and 
literature ;  and  though  my  faith  were  equal  to  Abra- 
ham's or  Elijah's,  able  to  solve  the  greatest  difficul- 
ties and  surmount  the  greatest  obstacles,  bringing 
fire  or  rain  from  heaven  according  to  my  desire,  even 
making  the  mountains  skip  like  rams  and  the  little 
hills  like  lambs  ?  Know  ye  not  that  there  is  one  gift 
immeasurably  greater,  without  which  all  my  divine 
endowments  would  avail  me  nothing,  constituting  no 
merit  in  the  sight  of  God,  pleasing  him  as  little  as 
the  noisy  dissonances  of  the  heathen  in  their  idola- 
trous worship,  and  proving  as  useless  as  the  blast 
of  the  brazen  trumpet  or  the  inharmonious  clangor  of 
the  cymbal  ?  " 

Yet  these  were  glorious  gifts,  accrediting  the 
heavenly  commission  of  prophets,  heroes  and  martyrs 
of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy.  Contemplate 
some  of  them,  as  shown  forth  in  the  history  of  those 
holy  men  of  old  who  spake  as  they  were  moved  by 
the  Holy  Ghost.  See  Enoch,  "the  seventh  from 
Adam  "  —  the  blessed  sabbath-man  — standing  amidst 
a  multitude  of  giants  —  giants  alike  in  stature  and  in 
sin  —  unmoved  by  their  mockery  and  their  menaces, 
witnessing  against  their  wickedness,  foretelling  their 
fearful  doom,  and  then  ascending  unsmitten  of  the 
mortal  shaft  to  God.  Behold  Noah,  preaching  right- 
eousness to  his  ungodly  generation,  while  the  heavens 
around  are  darkening  with  the  deluge  tempest,  and 
the  thunder  from  afar  enforces  the  prophetic  warn- 


CHARITY  AND  IMIRACLES.  27 

ing ;  and  then  entering  his  ark,  shut  in  by  an  invisi- 
ble hand,  and  floating  over  the  wide  waste  of  waters, 
amidst  the  mingled  roar  of  the  elements  and  the  wail 
of  a  drowning  world.  And  there  is  Moses,  working 
his  wonders  in  the  presence  of  the  royal  oppressor, 
leading  his  brethren  through  the  divided  sea,  talking 
face  to  face  with  God  amidst  the  lightnings  of  Sinai, 
surveying  from  Pisgah  with  more  than  prophet's  ken 
the  long-sought  land  of  promise;  and  dying  there, 
more  blessed  than  he  could  have  died  on  the  couch 
of  the  Pharaohs,  soothed  by  sweetest  perfumes  and 
softest  melodies ;  and  buried  with  honors  a  thousand 
times  sublimer  than  if  embalmed  with  precious  spices, 
and  enclosed  in  a  sarcophagus  of  sculptured  marble, 
and  deposited  in  the  proudest  of  the  pyramids,  amid 
the  lamentations  of  Mizraim  and  the  memorial  hom- 
age of  the  world.  Then  comes  Joshua,  arresting 
the  rush  of  the  Jordan  and  the  revolutions  of  the 
spheres ;  and  Elijah,  bearing  credentials  written  with 
fire  from  heaven,  and  ascending  to  heaven  with 
horses  and  chariot  of  fire ;  and  Elisha,  whose  prayer 
recalls  the  departed  spirit  of  the  young  Shunammite, 
and  whose  mouldering  skeleton  quickens  the  dead 
by  contact;  and  David,  whose  inspired  psalmody 
still  charms  our  solemn  assemblies;  and  Solomon, 
whose  proverbial  philosophy  still  instructs  our  sages 
and  senators;  and  Isaiah,  with  his  noble  Messianic 
strain ;  and  Jeremiah,  with  his  melting  patriotic  wail ; 
and  Ezekiel,  gazing  upon  the  living  chariot-throne 
of  Jehovah ;  and  the  beloved  Daniel,  sitting  serene 
among  the  lions  ;  and  his  three  princely  companions, 
walking  unharmed  in  sevenfold  flames ;  and  the  mis- 


28  PAUUNE  CHAEITY. 

sionary  prophet  of  Zebulon^  spreading  with  peniten- 
tial sackcloth  the  imperial  city  of  the  Tigris;  and 
the  voice  crying  in  the  wilderness,  the  morning  star 
that  heralds  the  dayspring  from  on  high;  and  the 
twelve  apostles  of  the  Lamb,  the  twelve  foundation- 
gems  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  the  twelve  heralds  sent 
forth  to  announce  the  kingdom  of  heaven  upon  earth, 
the  twelve  plenipotentiaries  of  the  Prince  of  peace 
going  to  and  fro  like  angels  among  men,  negotiating 
an  everlasting  amnesty  between  heaven  and  earth, 
eliciting  from  mute  Nature  articulate  testimony  to 
the  authority  of  their  mission  and  the  divinity  of 
their  message,  and  by  imposition  of  their  hands  com- 
municating to  their  converts  and  brethren  the  same 
sublime  prerogatives,  till  all  lands  ring  with  the 
rumor  of  their  fame,  and  tyrants  tremble  on  their 
thrones  before  them,  and  the  vanquished  spirits  of 
darkness  haste  muttering  to  their  native  hell.  What 
celestial  credentials  are  here !  what  an  investiture 
of  living  splendors !  ^  And  yet,  saith  St.  Paul,  with 
all  these  amazing  powers  —  with  all  these  indubitable 
heavenly  sanctions  —  "if  I  have  not  charity,  I  am 
become  as  sounding  brass  or  a  tinkling  cymbal  —  if 
I  have  not  charity,  I  am  nothing." 

Spiritual  gifts  may  be  bestowed  without  any  ac- 
companiment of  saving  grace.  Sinners  may  proph- 
esy, and  hypocrites  may  work  miracles.  Generally, 
it  is  true,  such  endowments  have  been  granted  only 
to  the  pure  and  good,  and  those  who  have  exercised 
them  have  usually  been  the  most  eminent  saints  of 
1  Thomas  H.  Stockton. 


CHARITY  AND   MIRACLES.  29 

their  times;  but  exceptional  cases  are  recorded,  in 
which,  for  wise  and  special  purposes,  men  of  very 
questionable  character,  or  even  of  character  unques- 
tionably bad,  have  been  invested  with  some  of  these 
divine  prerogatives.  Balaam  seems  to  have  been  an 
instance,  and  the  old  prophet  of  Samaria,  and  the 
royal  persecutor  of  the  anointed  son  of  Jesse ;  and, 
up  to  a  certain  point,  the  magicians  of  Egypt 
matched  the  miracles  of  Moses  and  Aaron;  and 
does  not  St.  Paul  himself  give  us  reason  for  believing 
that  tliere  were  corrupt  and  wicked  teachers  in  his- 
day,  false  apostles,  who  exhibited  such  powers  and 
performed  such  wonders  as  might  deceive  the  very 
elect  ?  Who  shall  say  that  God  never  employed  bad 
men  as  his  messengers  and  instruments,  and  granted 
the  distinct  testimony  of  prophetic  gifts  and  miracu- 
lous works  to  the  divinity  of  their  commission  ?  But 
charity  is  the  grace  of  his  favorites,  the  peculiar 
mark  of  liis  children,  the  family  likeness  by  which 
they  are  known  on  earth  and  recognized  in  heaven. 
These  extraordinary  gifts  are  "outward  and  visible 
signs ; "  charity  is  an  "  inward  and  spiritual  grace." 
These  are  divine  favors  conferred  upon  the  Church ; 
charity  is  a  living  principle  infused  into  the  hearts 
of  her  members.  These  are  the  royal  robes  and 
jewels  with  which  the  King  adorned  his  Bride  in  the 
day  of  her  espousal ;  charity  is  the  inspiration  of  a 
new  and  heavenly  temper,  whereby  she  is  assimi- 
lated to  himself  and  prepared  for  the  fellowship  of 
his  throne.  Charity  is  "the  mind  that  was  in 
Christ,"  and  Christ  is  the  embodiment  and  incarna- 
tion of  the  charity   of   God.     Charity   makes   men 


30  PAULINE  CHAEITY. 

more  like  God,  therefore,  than  all  the  unknown 
tongues,  prophetic  powers,  supernatural  knowledge, 
and  miracle-working  faith,  ever  enjoyed  by  his  most 
honored  servants.  Noah  in  the  deluge,  Moses  in 
Mount  Sinai,  Joshua  on  the  field  of  Gibeon,  Elijah 
in  his  splendid  rapture,  Ezekiel  by  the  river  Chebar, 
Daniel  amid  the  courtiers  or  the  lions,  the  Baptist 
in  the  desert  or  the  dungeon,  St.  John  in  the  vis- 
ions of  Patmos,  and  St.  Paul  in  the  third  heaven, 
were  less  like  God  in  the  revelations  they  received 
and  the  wonders  they  wrought,  than  in  the  divine 
love  —  the  transcendent  charity  —  which  filled  and 
ruled  and  sanctified  their  souls. 

And  all  these  astonishing  endowments  one  might 
have,  with  all  the  success  which  they  insure,  and  aL. 
the  reverence  which  they  attract,  and  all  the  popu- 
larity which  ought  to  follow  from  their  exercise,  and 
still  be  a  very  unhappy  man ;  but  if  love  reign  in  his 
heart,  and  every  thing  else  is  subordinate  to  love,  he 
must  be  happy ;  for  love  is  a  perennial  fountain  of 
peace  and  joy,  involving  the  approbation  of  con- 
science, and  affording  the  highest  satisfaction  to  the 
sensibilities.  The  truest  happiness  springs  from 
holiness,  and  of  all  personal  holiness  love  is  the  cen- 
tral element.  Love  it  was,  not  the  gift  of  tongues 
or  prophecy,  that  inspired  the  midnight  song  of 
Paul  and  Silas  in  the  Philippian  dungeon.  Love  it 
was,  not  the  power  of  knowledge  or  miracle,  that 
made  Polycarp  rejoice  in  the  flames  and  Ignatius  tri- 
umph among  the  lions.  Heaven  is  perfect  blessed- 
ness because  it  is  perfect  love,  and  perfect  love  on 
earth  would  render  earth  itself  a  heaven.     Love  is 


CHAEITY  AND  MIRACLES.  31 

capable  of  making  men  happy  withaut  any  thing 
else;  but  every  thing  else  without  love  must  only 
enhance  their  misery.  And  so  Jesus  bade  his  dis- 
ciples rejoice,  not  that  the  spirits  were  subject  to 
them,  but  that  their  names  were  written  in  heaven ; 
not  that  they  could  cast  out  devils,  but  that  they  could 
love  like  angels ;  not  that  they  imitated  his  mighty 
works,  but  that  they  possessed  his  loving  spirit. 

For  what  grace  is  there,  what  assurance  of  salva- 
tion, what  meetness  for  the  heavenly  inheritance, 
in  tongues  or  prophecy,  in  knowledge  or  miracle? 
Does  not  our  blessed  Lord  tell  us  that  many  who 
have  exercised  these  glorious  gifts  will  in  the  last 
day  be  rejected  as  "  workers  of  iniquity  "  ?  and  must 
not  their  divine  endowments  increase  their  condem- 
nation and  intensify  their  torments  ?  Was  not  Judas 
one  of  the  twelve  ?  and  was  it  not  his  participation 
of  their  extraordinary  powers  and  privileges  that 
aggravated  so  fearfully  the  turpitude  of  the  betrayal, 
and  swelled  the  traitor's  guilt  beyond  the  limits  of 
God's  forgiveness?  And  has  not  St.  Paul  assured 
us,  concerning  those  apostates  from  Christianity  who 
had  been  "  made  partakers  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  of 
the  powers  of  the  world  to  come,"  that  "it  is  impos- 
sible to  renew  them  again  unto  repentance,  seeing 
they  crucify  to  themselves  the  Son  of  God  afresh 
and  put  him  to  an  open  shame  "  ?  And  was  it  not 
because  they  fell  from  such  a  height  of  privilege  and 
prerogative,  that  "the  angels  who  kept  not  their 
first  estate  "  sank  to  such  an  irredeemable  depth  of 
doom,  "  reserved  in  chains  under  darkness  to  the 
day  of  judgment  to  be  punished"  —  sentenced  with 


32  PAULINE  CHAEITY. 

the  prince  of  reprobates,  and  all  whom  he  has  allured 
from  their  allegiance  into  rebellion  against  the  Al- 
mighty, to  "the  lake  that  burnetii  with  fire  and 
brimstone,  which  is  the  second  death"?  But  charity 
is  the  image  of  God,  which  none  possessing  can  per- 
ish.    Charity  is  God  enthroned  in  the  human  heart. 

"  The  universe  is  but  the  vestibule; 
The  soul,  the  temple  of  Divinity." 

Here  is  the  test  by  which  we  shall  be  tried  at  the 
Master's  coming,  and  love  to  his  saints  shall  be 
requited  as  love  to  himself.  This  is  meetness  for 
heavenly  glory — is  heaven  itself  in  embryo  —  the 
bud  which  blossoms  in  time  and  fructifies  in  eter- 
nity ;  and  our  attainments  in  grace  during  this  pro- 
bationary season  must  determine  the  proportion  of 
our  future   reward,  and   he   that  loves   most   shall 

/  ^     y    shrne  brightest  amon^_thfi_&aints_jn  light   and_siflg- 

^)C.VE    loudest  around  the  sapphire  throne. 

^  |\T  ?  And  be  it  observed  that  these  excellent  gifts  and 
mighty  works  of  the  Holy  Spirit  are  only  the  means 
employed  by  the  Divine  Wisdom  for  the  promotion 
of  charity ;  being  bestowed  and  exercised  chiefly 
for  the  authentication  and  effectual  enforcement  of 
Christianity,  which  is  characteristically  and  pre-emi- 
nently the  religion  of  charity.  St.  Paul  tells  us  that 
the  end  of  the  Christian  ministry,  with  all  its  primi- 
I  tive  endowments  of  inspired  eloquence,  prophecy, 
i  knowledge,  wisdom,  and  faith,  is  the  perfecting  of 
the  saints,  the  edification  of  the  Church  in  charity. 
And  is  not  the  end  more  excellent  than  the  means? 
And  what  excellence  have  the  means,  except  as 


CHARITY  AND   MIRACLES.  33 

they  are  promotive  of  the  end  ?  The  former,  there- 
fore, ceased  with  the  apostolic  age ;  but  the  latter 
has  an  intrinsic  value,  which  insures  its  immortality. 
They  were  the  supernatural  auxiliaries  of  Christi- 
anity, continued  only  so  long  as  they  were  necessary 
for  the  establishment  of  the  new  religion  among  the 
nations  ;  but  this,  being  of  the  very  essence  of  Chris- 
tianity, must  be  commensurate  in  duration  with  that 
religion  and  with  its  imperishable  fruits.  In  a  higher 
sense  than  is  applicable  to  the  past,  "prophecies 
shall  fail,  tongues  shall  cease,  and  knowledge  shall 
vanish  away ;  "  for  the  themes  of  prophecy  shall  be- 
come matters  of  history,  and  unknown  tongues  can 
have  no  utility  to  those  who  possess  the  transcend- 
ent powers  of  immortality,  and  what  we  now  call 
knowledge  must  fade  and  vanish  before  the  superior 
certainties  of  a  more  perfect  economy  as  the  stars  be- 
fore the  rising  sun ;  while  charity,  for  whose  sake  they 
all  exist,  to  whose  triumph  they  all  minister,  and  from 
whose  importance  they  all  -derive  their  value  —  char- 
ity, the  reward  of  faith,  the  fruition  of  hope,  the  moral 
image  of  God,  and  the  essential  paradise  of  the  soul 
—  can  never  be  superseded  by  any  thing  more  need- 
ful, more  useful,  more  excellent,  than  itself ;  and  no 
greater  gift,  no  richer  endowment,  no  sublimer  mani- 
festation of  the  Holy  Spirit,  will  ever  bless  the  con- 
dition of  redeemed  humanity  in  the  "new  heavens 
and  earth  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness." 

*'  Beyond  this  vale  of  tears, 
There  is  a  life  above, 
Unmeasured  by  the  flight  of  years, 
And  all  that  life  is  love." 


34  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

We  come  then  to  this  inevitable  conclusion,  that 
charity  immeasurably  transcends  in  importance  all 
natural  endowments,  all  acquired  abilities,  and  all 
the  extraordinary  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  can 
be  known  or  named  in  this  world  or  the  world  to 
come.  And  if  one  could  speak  all  tongues,  earthly 
and  heavenly ;  if  he  understood  all  science,  physical 
and  mental ;  if  he  were  familiar  with  all  literature, 
ancient  and  modern ;  if  he  had  an  intuitive  percep- 
tion of  all  truth,  human  and  divine ;  if  he  were 
constantly  inspired  of  God,  and  infallible  in  all  his 
opinions  and  decisions;  if  he  were  gifted  with  the 
most  winning  eloquence,  the  most  cogent  argumenta- 
tion, and  unbounded  influence  over  the  popular 
mind ;  if  he  were  invested  with  all  the  wealth,  and 
all  the  splendor,  and  all  the  authority,  of  all  the  mon- 
archs  that  ever  ruled  mankind ;  were  he  preserved 
alive  like  Noah  from  the  watery  ruin  of  the  world, 
or  led  forth  like  Lot  from  the  fate  of  an  accursed 
city ;  were  he  called  as  Moses,  anointed  as  Aaron,  and 
more  magnificently  attested  than  Joshua ;  could  he 
indite  psalms  like  David,  construct  proverbs  like 
Solomon,  predict  wonders  like  Isaiah,  compose  dirges 
like  Jeremiah,  pray  like  Jacob  at  Peniel,  and  preach 
like  Peter  at  the  Pentecost;  were  angels  sent  to 
guard  him  as  they  guarded  the  pilgrim  patriarch,  and 
fight  for  him  as  they  fought  for  the  beleaguered 
prophet,  and  sing  to  him  as  they  sang  to  the  shep- 
herds of  Bethlehem ;  had  he,  with  the  proto-martyr, 
seen  heaven  open,  and  Jesus  standing  on  the  right 
hand  of  God ;  or,  with  the  beloved  disciple,  leaned 
upon  the  bosom  of  the  Incarnate  God,  and  gazed 


CHARITY  AND  JMIRACLES.  35 

upon  the  splendid  panorama  of  the  prophetic  future 
in  Patmos ;  or,  with  the  great  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles, 
been  converted  by  the  personal  revelation  of  the 
glorified  Redeemer,  and  afterward  caught  up  in  sweet 
bewildering  rapture  to  the  third  heaven;  or,  with 
the  heroic  and  holy  Tishbite,  been  charioted  over  the 
everlasting  hills  by  the  cherubim,  escorted  by  flaming 
squadrons  of  the  seraphim,  till  his  steeds  of  fire  stood 
still  within  the  jasper  walls  of  Jehovah's  magnificent 
metropolis ;  oh !  what  were  it  all  without  the  spirit 
of  Christ,  the  temper  of  angels,  the  perfection  of 
redeemed  humanity,  the  chief  element  of  the  new 
and  everlasting  kingdom,  the  all-including  and  all- 
sustaining  grace  of  charity? 


36  PAULINE  CHARITY. 


III. 

CHARITY  AND  ALMSGIVING. 

And  though  I  bestow  all  my  goods  to  feed  the  poor,  .  .  .  and  have 
not  charity,  it  profiteth  me  nothing.  — 1  Cob.  xiii.  3. 

To  achieve  one  great  thing,  may  be  much  easier 
than  to  accomplish  many  smaller  things.  To  perform 
an  extraordinary  act  one  day,  may  be  much  easier 
than  to  practise  ordinary  duties  every  day.  To 
lavish  our  substance  upon  suffering  poverty,  may  be 
much  easier  than  to  watch  habitually  over  our  evil 
hearts  and  bring  a  rebellious  will  into  subjection  to 
the  law  of  Christ.  Influenced  by  any  one  of  a  great 
number  of  worldly  or  selfish  considerations,  the  rich 
man  may  scatter  his  bounty  over  those  that  are 
beneath  him  as  the  sun  scatters  his  beams  over  the 
face  of  the  rejoicing  earth ;  and  yet  he  may  be  quite 
incapable  of  subduing  his  passions,  controlling  his 
temper,  conquering  his  vices,  renouncing  his  idols,  or 
correcting  any  of  the  errors  of  a  careless  and  sinful 
life.  Roused  by  some  eloquent  discourse  or  stimu- 
lated by  some  brilliant  example,  we  are  ready  to 
challenge  the  most  formidable  difficulties,  and  almost 
to  attempt  the  impossible  ;  while,  perhaps,  we  cannot 
brook  the  slightest  insult,  or  forgive  the  smallest 
injury ;  cannot  help  envying  one  who,  in  the  revolu- 


CHARITY  AND  ALMSGIVING.  37 

tions  of  fortune,  from  a  lower  position  has  been  raised 
above  us ;  cannot  avoid  being  inflated  with,  our 
prosperity  or  success,  as  if  it  were  purely  the  reward 
of  our  own  merit;  cannot  learn  to  treat  with  be- 
coming courtesy  our  inferiors,  or  behave  with  suitable 
modesty  and  deference  toward  our  superiors ;  cannot 
observe  a  proper  moderation  in  asserting  our  invaded 
rights  and  prerogatives,  or  in  vindicating  ourselves 
against  the  assaults  of  the  slanderous  tongue ;  can- 
not cordially  wish  good  to  an  enemy,  treat  him 
kindly,  judge  him  candidly,  or  generously  interpret 
an  act  not  well  understood;  in  short,  know  not 
how  to  exemplify  any  of  the  amiable  and  excellent 
qualities  of  that  charity  which,  as  shown  in  former 
homilies,  is  the  very  essence  of  Christianity,  the  one 
all-containing  virtue,  man's  highest  perfection,  God's 
noblest  image ;  and  of  which  the  apostle,  adding  to 
what  he  has  already  said  concerning  its  superiority 
to  all  supernatural  endowments,  thus  strongly  ex- 
presses the  importance  :  —  "  And  though  I  bestow  all 
my  goods  to  feed  the  poor,  and  have  not  charity, 
it  profiteth  me  nothing." 

No  duty  is  more  constantly  enjoined  and  more 
cogently  enforced,  in  Holy  Scripture  than  that  of 
contributing  of  our  abundance  to  the  necessity  of 
others;  and  cases  there  may  be,  though  infrequent 
and  extraordinary,  in  which  we  ought  to  be  willing 
to  part  with  every  thing  we  possess  for  the  relief  of 
suffering  indigence  around  us.  Our  blessed  Lord  said 
to  the  rich  young  ruler  who  came  to  him  inquiring 
what  he  must  do  to  inherit  eternal  life,  "Sell  that 


38  PAULINE  CHAEITY. 

thou  hast,  and  give  to  the  poor,  and  thou  shalt  have 
treasure  m  heaven,  and  come  follow  me. "  His 
wealth  was  his  idol,  and  he  was  required  to  part 
with  it  all  for  the  benefit  of  his  needy  neighbors, 
and  make  himself  as  poor  as  Christ  in  order  to  be 
Christ's  disciple.  Such  were  the  difficulties  and 
dangers  attending  the  Christian  life  in  the  beginning 
as  to  render  necessary  the  disinthralment  of  those 
who  undertook  it  from  the  care  and  burden  of 
worldly  possessions  ;  and  the  followers  of  Jesus 
were  frequently  called  upon  to  make  large  contri- 
butions to  the  relief  of  their  suffering  brethren  de- 
spoiled by  persecution.  The  faithful  were  often 
reduced  to  utter  destitution,  their  goods  plundered 
by  the  mob  or  confiscated  by  authority;  and  when 
thus  impoverished  and  straitened,  they  had  no  earthly 
resource  but  the  beneficence  of  their  less  unfortu- 
nate brethren.  At  Jerusalem,  they  sold  whatever 
they  possessed,  and  put  the  avails  into  a  common 
treasury,  out  of  which  distribution  was  made  con- 
tinually as  every  man  had  need.  When  St.  Paul 
wrote  this  Epistle,  they  were  in  a  suffering  condi- 
tion, partly  from  persecution,  and  partly  from  the 
effects  of  a  famine  which  prevailed  throughout  Ju- 
daea and  seriously  afflicted  the  surrounding  countries. 
In  the  sixteenth  chapter  he  thus  advises  his  Corinth- 
ian brethren  in  regard  to  sending  them  relief:  — 
"  On  the  first  day  of  the  week,  let  every  one  of  you 
lay  by  him  in  store,  as  God  hath  prospered  him,  that 
there  be  no  gathering  when  I  come;  and  when  I 
come,  whomsoever  ye  shall  approve  by  letters,  them 
will  I  send  to  bring  your  liberality  unto  Jerusalem ; 


CHAEITY  AND  ALMSGIVING.  39 

and  if  it  be  meet  that  I  go  also,  they  shall  go  with 
me. "  In  the  Second  Epistle  he  resumes  the  ex- 
hortation, and  throughout  two  chapters  urges  it  by 
the  example  of  their  Macedonian  brethren,  by  the 
commendation  of  their  own  former  liberality,  by 
the  unspeakable  grace  of  Jesus  Christ  toward  them, 
the  relief  and  comfort  they  might  thus  impart,  the 
spiritual  profit  they  might  realize,  and  the  glory 
that  would  redound  to  God.  Yet  here  he  informs 
them  that,  though  they  should  bestow  all  their  goods 
to  feed  the  poor,  without  charity  it  should  profit 
them  nothing. 

A  recent  German  writer,  in  a  work  on  "  Christian 
Beneficence  in  the  Ancient  Church, "  has  called  the 
old  heathen  world  of  Greece  and  Rome,  with  all  its 
profound  philosophy  and  lofty  culture,  "a  world 
witiiout  love."  1  Without  friendship,  generosity,  mu- 
tual helpfulness,  and  large  contributions  in  many 
ways  to  the  public  welfare,  certainly  it  was  not. 
With  open  hand  princes  and  patricians  dispensed 
their  bounty  and  provided  popular  entertainments 
for  the  multitude.  On  special  occasions  feasts  were 
spread  for  hundreds  of  thousands,  and  free  as  water 
flowed  the  royal  wine.  At  immense  cost  in  all  cities 
were  erected  baths,  theatres,  circuses,  aqueducts, 
porticos,  marble  statues,  monumental  columns,  mag- 
nificent triumphal  arches,  and  other  ornamental 
structures  for  the  pleasure  and  improvement  of  the 
public.  But  in  these  vast  expenditures  the  poor 
were  never  thought  of,  and  bribery  with  its  gains 

1  Dr.  Uhlhorn. 


40  PAULINE  CHAEITY. 

furnished  a  stronger  motive  than  charity.  Of  charity, 
indeed,  in  the  Christian  sense,  the  Greeks  and  Romans 
knew  nothing,  and  their  most  renowned  sages  and 
teachers  had  never  conceived  the  idea.  The  Stoics 
talked  of  a  common  humanity  and  the  brotherhood 
of  the  race;  but  in  their  system  pride  was  more 
prominent  than  love,  and  sympathy  with  individual 
suffering  was  deemed  an  unworthy  weakness.  ''  Old 
women  sympathize,"  says  Seneca;  "the  wise  man 
helps  the  weeper,  but  weeps  not  with  him."  Plato's 
Utopia  has  no  provision  for  poverty  and  no  place  for 
beneficence  to  the  needy.  "  Even  in  giving,"  writes 
Lactantius,  "  it  was  not  the  individual  that  was  con- 
sidered, but  the  state,  the  city,  the  body  of  citizens." 
Thus  it  appears  that  in  the  old  pagan  world  there 
was  nothing  like  that  disinterested  love  which  pities 
and  rescues  the  poor  and  the  perishing. 

God  descended  upon  Mount  Sinai,  and  gave  his 
chosen  people  a  law,  the  spirit  of  which  contrasts 
very  strongly  with  that  of  the  old  philosophy.  It 
enjoins  compassion  for  the  poor,  helpfulness  for  the 
weak,  and  sympathy  for  the  suffering.  Christ  came, 
and  reiterated  the  commandment  with  an  emphasis, 
with  amplifications  and  illustrations,  which  astonished 
all  who  heard  him.  He  taught  his  disciples  that 
in  feeding  the  hungry  they  were  feeding  him,  that 
in  clothing  the  naked  they  were  clothing  him,  that  in 
receiving  the  stranger  they  were  receiving  him,  that 
in  visiting  the  prisoner  they  were  visiting  him,  that  in 
ministering  to  the  sick  and  needy  they  were  minis- 
tering to  their  Lord  and  Saviour.  Thus  he  furnished 
a  new  motive  to  works  of  mercy,  and  a  nobler  than 


CHARITY  AND  ALMSGIVING.  41 

the  world  had  ever  known.  He  established  on  earth 
a  kingdom  of  regenerate  souls,  of  which  one  of  the 
primary  principles  was  a  tender  care  of  the  poor  and 
the  unfortunate. 

By  his  followers,  from  the  first,  a  weekly  offering 
for  the  relief  of  the  needy  was  laid  every  Lord's  Day 
upon  the  altar,  acquiring  a  special  sacredness  from 
its  association  with  the  eucharistic  memorial  of  their 
Redeemer's  death.  The  faithful  often  fasted  to  feast 
their  starving  brethren,  and  stripped  themselves  to 
clothe  their  shivering  nakedness.  Constrained  by 
the  love  of  Christ,  sometimes  they  gave  away  large 
estates,  and  gladly  spent  the  rest  of  their  days  in 
poverty.  Marciana  dispensed  a  vast  fortune  in  alms 
to  the  poor.  Olympia,  the  constant  friend  of  Chrys- 
ostom  —  young,  rich,  clever,  beautiful,  and  much 
admired  —  devoted  all  her  wealth  and  energies  to 
the  aid  of  her  suffering  brethren.  Nonna,  mother  of 
Gregory  Nazianzen,  reduced  herself  to  absolute  desti- 
tution by  her  munificence  to  the  exiled  and  perse- 
cuted ;  and  expiring  in  prayer  before  the  altar,  left 
nothing  to  her  friends  but  the  sweet  savor  of  her 
name.  Her  daughter  Gregoria  inherited  her  mother's 
spirit ;  and  Gregory  says  of  her,  "  She  was  eyes  to 
the  blind,  feet  to  the  •  lame,  and  a  mother  to  the 
orphan."  Paula,  a  noble  Roman  lady,  when  remon- 
strated with  on  the  profusion  of  her  alms,  replied 
that  she  desired  to  die  a  beggar  and  be  buried  in  a 
pauper  shroud.  Accompanied  b}^  her  daughter  Eus- 
tochia,  she  went  to  Palestine,  established  in  Beth- 
lehem a  house  of  entertainment  for  pilgrims,  and 
ended  her  days  in  good  works  near  the  spot  where 


42  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

her  Saviour  was  born.  Another  daughter,  married 
to  the  senator  Pammachius,  followed  the  maternal 
example ;  and  after  her  death,  her  husband  devoted 
himself  and  his  wealth  to  the  cause  of  the  poor,  and 
built  a  hospital  in  Pontus,  which  St.  Jerome  calls  "  a 
twig  from  the  terebinth  of  Abraham  transplanted  on 
the  Ausonian  shore." 

The  first  institution  of  this  sort  in  Rome  was 
founded  by  Fabiola,  a  rich  widow;  who  often  sought 
the  sick,  bore  them  thither  herself,  and  ministered 
to  them  with  her  own  hands.  Paulinus,  a  man  of 
high  culture  and  vast  possessions,  with  his  wife  The- 
resia,  provided  a  similar  asylum  at  Nola,  to  which 
resorted  crowds  from  all  quarters;  and  when  all  his 
means  were  exhausted,  to  ransom  a  Christian  brother 
taken  captive  by  the  Vandals,  he  voluntarily  took 
the  place  of  the  prisoner,  and  was  carried  away  to 
Africa.  At  Csesarea  Basilius  reared  a  larger,  equal 
in  dimensions  to  a  small  town;  having  porticoed 
streets,  lined  with  long  ranges  of  buildings,  diverging 
from  a  grand  central  church.  Others  arose  in  An- 
tioch,  Ephesus,  Edessa,  Alexandria,  Constantinople, 
wherever  Christianity  found  a  footing.  St.  Augus- 
tine calls  them  "new  things  in  the  world."  They 
were  the  natural  products  of  the  new  religion,  conse- 
crated with  the  blood  of  the  cross,  and  sustained 
chiefly  from  the  revenues  of  the  Church. 

When  Italy  became  the  hunting-ground  of  the 
Northern  barbarians,  and  multitudes  were  carried  off 
into  miserable  captivity,  the  Church  spent  immense 
sums  in  ransoming  them  and  bringing  them  back  to 
their  native  land.     The  redemption  of  two  Sicilian 


CHARITY  AND  ALMSGIVING.  43 

bishops  cost  a  sum  equal  to  thirty-five  thousand  dol- 
lars; and  for  about  the  same  amount  Candianus, 
bishop  of  Sergiopolis,  restored  to  home  and  freedom 
twelve  thousand  persons  at  once.  For  such  purposes 
private  Christians  often  contributed  largely ;  and 
sometimes,  when  other  means  failed,  the  precious 
vessels  of  the  Lord's  house  were  sacrificed. 

That  all  this  was  at  first  the  fruit  of  pure  brotherly  [, 
love,  there  can  be  little  doubt ;  but  how  much  of  it 
afterward  was  attributable  to  other  causes  acting 
upon  this,  it  is  not  easy  to  determine.  Certain  it  is, 
at  least,  that  early  in  the  fourth  century  the  merit  of 
almsgiving  was  greatly  exaggerated  in  Christian  esti- 
mation, and  it  was  said  that  gifts  to  the  poor  pro- 
cured pardon,  purified  the  soul,  and  opened  the  gates 
of  paradise.  And  equally  certain  it  is,  that  if  any 
gave  from  such  an  impulse,  they  sought  their  own 
good  in  giving,  not  that  of  the  receiver ;  and  how- 
ever munificent  the  gift,  and  however  frequent  its 
repetition,  being  void  of  charity,  it  profited  them 
nothing. 

A  man  may  bestow  much  with  little  charity,  may 
bestow  all  with  no  charity.  The  motive  for  giving 
may  be  purely  selfish,  the  very  opposite  of  charity. 
Giving  from  emulation  or  ostentation  —  from  fear  of 
punishment  or  hope  of  reward  —  to  quiet  an  uneasy 
conscience  or  obtain  indulgence  for  sin  —  many  no 
doubt  have  acquired  great  reputation  for  munificence. 
Very  far  in  pecuniary  liberality  men  may  be  carried 
by  motives  such  as  these ;  and  if  what  they  do  were 
any  compensation  for  what  they  leave  undone,  vastly 


44  PAULINE  CHAHITY. 

profitable  would  it  be  to  their  souls.  But  the  exte- 
rior act  can  never  supply  the  place  of  the  interior 
virtue.  It  may  make  friends  among  men,  but  can 
never  secure  the  friendship  of  God.  It  may  win  the 
praise  of  the  world,  but  can  never  elicit  the  commen- 
dation of  Him  who  searcheth  the  heart.  All  the  alms 
and  tithes  of  the  Pharisee  in  the  parable  could  not 
obtain  acceptance  for  his  prayer,  and  from  the  temple 
he  went  down  to  his  house  unjustified.  If  you  had 
at  your  disposal  the  treasures  of  a  kingdom,  and  if 
you  lavished  the  whole  upon  surrounding  poverty, 
without  charity  it  would  profit  you  nothing. 

All  this  might  be  a  mere  outward  show  of  good- 
ness, without  any  corresponding  principle  within. 
But  what  is  the  visible  act  to  Him  that  looketh'  upon 
the  heart  and  judgeth  the  deed  by  the  motive? 
The  movement  of  the  hand  in  giving,  if  it  be  not 
impelled  by  a  loving  heart,  has  no  more  virtue  in  it 
than  the  stroke  of  the  hammer  or  the  revolution  of 
the  wheel.  The  heart  is  the  moral  agent;  the  hand 
is  only  the  physical  instrument.  The  act  of  the  hand 
is  no  sure  index  of  the  feeling  of  the  heart.  If  the 
motive  be  wrong,  how  can  the  deed  be  good  in  the 
sight  of  God  ?  Or  can  the  stream  be  pure  that  flows 
from  a  filthy  source,  or  the  fruit  wholesome  that 
grows  on  a  poisonous  tree  ?  Nor  does  the  amount 
bestowed  affect  the  quality  of  the  act;  for  if  the 
right  motive  be  wanting,  the  largest  donation  must  be 
as  void  of  merit  as  the  smallest,  and  the  more  one 
gives  the  greater  the  hypocrisy  of  the  giving.  The 
prince  by  his  munificence  might  reduce  himself  to 
beggary,  his   abundance  to  famine,  his   palace  to  a 


CHARITY  AND  ALMSGIVING.  45 

hovel,  and  his  royal  attire  to  a  suit  of  rags ;  nay,  if 
you  possessed  them,  you  might  give  mountains  of 
gold  and  continents  of  silver  to  remove  or  amelio- 
rate the  sufferings  of  humanity  —  you  might  pour 
out  rivers  of  oil  at  the  feet  of  the  poor,  and  drive 
forth  the  cattle  of  a  thousand  hills  to  furnish  their 
festival;  yet  as  a  mere  external  act  there  were  no 
moral  virtue  in  it,  and  without  charity  it  should 
profit  you  nothing. 

No  love  in  the  giver,  nothing  is  really  given.  If  a 
man  give  for  glory  or  reward,  to  appease  his  con- 
science or  expiate  his  offences,  what  is  the  motive 
but  a  selfish  one?  He  gives  for  his  own  sake,  for 
his  own  benefit,  not  for  another's.  Not  to  another, 
therefore,  but  to  himself,  the  gift  is  made,  —  to 
his  own  vanity,  ambition,  or  interest.  It  is  a  mere 
mockery  of  charity,  an  attempted  imposition  upon 
God  and  man,  and  often  the  most  successful  imposi- 
tion upon  the  giver.  The  very  sin  it  is  of  Ananias 
and  Sapphira  —  lying  to  the  Holy  Ghost.  At  the 
best,  it  can  be  nothing  more  than  the  picture  or  the 
statue  of  charity,  as  void  of  life  as  the  dull  canvas,  as 
destitute  of  soul  as  the  cold  marble.  And  what  is 
this  short  of  idolatry  —  the  very  essence  of  idolatry? 
Is  it  not  substituting  something  else  for  God  — 
some  selfish  object  or  end?  Whatever  takes  God's 
place  in  the  heart  is  an  idol.  Any  selfish  good, 
real  or  imaginary,  allowed  to  supplant  God  in  our 
affections,  is  as  much  an  idol  as  the  stock  or  the 
stone  worshipped  by  the  savage.  And  is  it  possible, 
think  you,  to  make  amends  for  withholding  due 
sacrifice  from  God  by  offering  sacrifice  to  an  idol  ? 


46  PAULINE  CHAKITY. 

Is  it  possible  to  make  amends  for  neglecting  what 
God  hath  commanded  by  doing  what  he  hath  for- 
bidden? ''The  wife,"  says  Jonathan  Edwards, 
"  might  as  well  attempt*  to  make  amends  for  lack  of 
love  to  her  husband  by  loving  another  man  and  a 
stranger."  Nay,  my  brethren;  all  such  almsgiving 
is  a  cheat,  a  false  and  worthless  show ;  and  whatever 
you  may  do  to  diminish  the  sufferings  and  increase 
the  comforts  of  your  fellow-creatures,  if  you  have 
not  charity  it  shall  profit  you  nothing. 

If  love,  as  we  have  shown,  comprehends  the  whole 
duty  of  man  —  if  that  branch  of  love  which  we  call 
charity  constitutes  one  half  of  practical  Christianity 
—  then  how  absurd  it  is  to  suppose  that  any  mere 
external  act,  such  as  feeding  the  hungry,  clothing 
the  naked,  and  housing  the  homeless,  can  supply  the 
place  of  this  divine  principle !  If  you  cannot  can- 
cel one  debt  by  paying  another,  how  can  you  cancel 
all  by  paying  none  ?  If  you  cannot  make  the  per- 
formance of  one  duty  counterbalance  the  neglect  of 
another,  how  can  you  make  a  deed  which  is  the  very 
opposite  of  duty  counterbalance  the  neglect  of  all 
that  is  required  of  you?  Is  the  end  of  the  command- 
ment charity  ?  Then  no  mere  donation  of  goods  or 
money  will  answer  its  demands.  Is  love  the  fulfilling 
of  the  law  ?  Then  the  law  cannot  be  fulfilled  without 
love  ;  and  he  who  yields  whatever  else  the  law  exacts, 
while  he  is  found  delinquent  in  this  one  point  —  this 
supreme  point  —  is  guilty  of  all.  God  saith :  —  "  My 
son,  give  me  thy  heart;"  and  if  you  give  only  gold 
and  silver,  food  and  raiment,  house  and  shelter  — 
though  you  give  very  freely,  very  frequently,  very 


CHAKITY  AND  ALMSGIVING.  47 

bountifully,  and  even  impoverisli  yourself  by  giving 
—  your  munificence  will  be  no  proper  response  to  the 
requisition  ;  for  after  the  utmost  given,  the  one  thing 
needful  is  withheld  —  the  one  thing  most  highly 
valued  in  heaven;  and  your  liberality  to  the  poor 
and  the  suffering  is  the  casket  without  the  jewel, 
the  body  without  the  soul,  which  shall  profit  you 
nothing. 

The  Jews,  according  to  an  old  authority,  reckoned 
eight  degrees  of  charity  in  almsgiving.  The  first 
was,  to  give,  but  with  reluctance  or  regret.  The  sec- 
ond was,  to  give  cheerfully,  but  not  in  proportion  to 
the  need  of  the  recipient.  The  third  was,  to  give  pro- 
portionately to  the  need,  but  not  without  solicitation 
and  entreaty  on  the  part  of  the  poor.  The  fourth 
was,  to  give  unsought  and  unsolicited,  but  putting 
the  gift  into  the  hand  of  the  receiver,  and  that  even 
in  the  presence  of  others,  exciting  in  him  the  painful 
feeling  of  shame.  The  fifth  was,  to  give  in  such  a 
way  that  the  beneficiary  should  know  his  benefac- 
tor without  being  known  of  him,  as  those  did  who 
folded  money  in  the  corners  of  their  cloaks  that  the 
poor  as  they  passed  might  take  it  unperceived.  The 
sixth  was,  to  give  knowing  the  objects  of  the  giver's 
bounty,  but  remaining  unknown  to  them,  after  the 
manner  of  those  who  conveyed  their  alms  by  some 
secret  agency  to  the  dwellings  of  the  indigent,  mak- 
ing it  impossible  for  them  to  ascertain  the  source  of 
their  relief.  The  seventh  was,  to  give  both  unknow- 
ing and  unknown,  like  those  benevolent  persons  who 
deposited  their  gifts  privately  in  a  place  prepared  for 
that  purpose  in  the  temple  and  in  every  synagogue 


48  PAULINE  CHAEITY. 

as  you  are  supposed  to  do  in  the  alms-boxes  at  the 
door,  from  which  tlie  most  respectable  poor  families 
were  regularly  supplied  without  ostentation  or  obser- 
vation. The  eighth  and  most  meritorious  of  all  was, 
to  anticipate  charity  by  preventing  poverty,  to  help 
the  worthy  brother  by  satisfying  the  claims  of  his 
creditors,  assisting  him  to  redeem  some  forfeited  por- 
tion of  his  inheritance,  furnishing  him  remunerative 
employment,  or  putting  him  in  the  way  of  obtaining 
it,  so  that  he  should  be  able  to  secure  an  honest  live- 
lihood without  the  hard  necessity  of  holding  out  an 
empty  hand  to  the  rich.^  These  were  the  eight  steps 
in  their  golden  stairway  of  charity,  but  the  highest 
of  them  does  not  rise  to  the  level  of  the  Pauline 
platform ;  for  a  man  might  give  all  his  goods  to  feed 
the  poor,  and  yet  have  no  charity ;  and  wanting  this, 
his  utmost  alms,  showered  from  the  top  of  the  ideal 
stairs,  shall  profit  him  nothing. 

Here,  then,  is  the  great  question  for  us  all.  We 
could  not  ask  a  more  practical  or  a  more  important. 
Let  us  consider  it  carefully  and  answer  it  honestly. 
Have  we  charity  ?  Do  we  indeed  love  one  another 
with  a  pure  heart  fervently  ?  Do  we  furnish  to  the 
world  this  divinest  evidence  of  our  following  and 
our  fellowship  with  Christ  ?  Who  lives  for  others  as 
for  himself?  Who  esteems  it  a  blessed  privilege 
to  labor  for  their  good,  to  suffer  for  their  comfort,  to 
sacrifice  himself  for  their  salvation  ?  Who  makes  it 
his  habitual  endeavor  to  shed  blessings  on  all  around 
him,   rendering  their  homes   brighter,  their  hearts 

1  Maimonides. 


CHARITY   AND   ALMSGIVING.  49 

purer,  their  lives  happier,  and  their  eternal  well-being 
sure  ?  This  is  the  spirit  of  Jesus,  and  the  charity  of 
his  great  Apostle.  Oh  that  it  may  transfuse  and 
consecrate  us  all !  What  angels  of  mercy  would  it 
make  of  us  among  our  sinful  and  suffering  fellow- 
men  !  How  would  it  sweeten  every  bitter  draught, 
and  lighten  every  heavy  load,  and  brighten  every 
gloomy  vale,  and  fill  our  whole  being  with  peace  and 
joy  ineffable !  Believe  me,  dear  brethren !  love  is 
the  blessed  life,  the  only  real  blessedness  this  side 
the  gates  of  heaven.  The  world  passeth  away,  and 
soon  all  that  now  delights  and  deludes  its  votaries 
shall  be  as  a  dream  when  one  awaketh ;  but  charity 
abideth,  a  fountain  that  never  fails,  a  light  that  no 
storm  can  extinguish,  an  angel  guide  through  all  our 
mortal  pilgrimage,  forsaking  us  not  at  the  dark  river 
of  death,  but  leading  us  still  onward  and  upward  to 
our  mansions  in  the  city  of  the  Great  King.  What- 
ever else  you  esteem  and  honor  in  others,  or  desire 
and  pursue  for  yourselves  —  whatever  else  is  lovely 
in  sentiment,  lofty  in  principle,  or  praiseworthy  in 
devotion  —  whatever  else  may  beautify  character, 
elevate  intellect,  ennoble  humanity,  attract  public 
confidence,  and  sweeten  the  relations  of  social  life  — 
after  having  commended  all  in  the  strongest  language 
and  urged  it  upon  your  practice  with  the  utmost  elo- 
quence, the  preacher  may  point  to  the  apostolic  por- 
traiture of  the  supreme  virtue  and  say  :  "  If  you  have 
not  charity,  it  shall  profit  you  nothing  !  " 


50  PAULINE  CHAEITY. 


IV. 

CHARITY  AND  MARTYRDOM. 

And  though  I  give  my  body  to  be  burned,  and  have  not  charity, 
it  profiteth  me  nothing.  —  1  Cor.  xiii.  3. 

Men  ordinarily  make  much  of  their  doings,  but 
more  of  their  sufferings.  To  peril  life  for  one's  coun- 
try, is  deemed  a  noble  and  magnanimous  thing.  To 
submit  to  pain  and  death  for  the  rescue  of  a  dearest 
friend  in  danger,  is  regarded  as  the  very  acme  of 
the  moral  sublime.  But,  for  the  honor  of  Christ,  the 
interest  of  his  kingdom  on  earth,  and  the  salvation 
of  souls  ransomed  by  his  blood,  to  yield  one's  self 
up  to  devouring  flames  —  the  most  terrible  mode  of 
death  ever  devised  by  human  cruelty  —  immeasurably 
transcends  all  other  forms  of  mere  physical  self-sac- 
rifice of  which  disinterested  devotion  among  men  is 
capable.  When  the  Christian  has  given  all  his  goods, 
what  else  has  he  to  give  but  his  life  ?  Yet  the  act  of 
martyrdom,  wanting  the  martyr's  spirit,  may  come 
short  of  the  martyr's  reward. 

Unquestionably,  there  may  be  great  suffering,  as 
well  as  much  giving,  without  any  charity;  as  the 
battle-fields  of  the  world  bear  witness,  and  the  self- 
imposed  penances  and  habitual  austerities  of    clois- 


CHARITY  AND  MAKTYRDOM.  51 

tered  monks  and  caverned  hermits  testify.  Rare 
indeed  are  the  instances  in  which  men  have  yielded 
themselves  up  to  imprisonment,  torture  and  death, 
from  pure  disinterested  love  to  their  fellow-men; 
though  they  have  sometimes  done  so  from  patriotic 
motives,  from  the  desire  of  freedom  and  the  dread  of 
oppression,  from  the  impulse  of  a  noble  friendship 
or  the  strength  of  domestic  instincts;  oftener  per- 
haps from  the  force  of  mere  natural  courage  or  bru- 
tish obstinacy,  connected  with  a  low  estimate  of  life 
and  an  irrational  desire  of  notoriety ;  in  many  cases, 
from  nothing  better  than  national  animosity,  politi- 
cal malice,  and  partisan  revenge ;  in  many  others, 
from  the  fury  of  religious  fanaticism,  from  the  blind 
bigotry  of  sectarian  championship,  from  a  rash  and 
reckless  zeal  for  traditions  unworthy  of  trust,  ecclesi- 
astical customs  unauthorized  by  Christian  antiquity, 
or  the  mere  formalities  of  godliness  unaccompanied 
by  the  principle  and  the  power.  And  instances  there 
are  on  record,  in  which  men  have  suffered  as  mar- 
tyrs, ostensibly  in  the  cause  of  Christianity,  without 
any  thing  like  that  Christian  charity  which  is  so 
essential  to  the  Christian  spirit. 

The  earliest  of  our  ecclesiastical  historians  tells  of 
one  who,  condemned  to  death  for  his  faith,  was  led 
forth  to  the  fiery  ordeal ;  when  a  deeply  offending 
brother,  who  from  dread  of  the  flames  had  rashly 
abjured  his  Saviour,  touched  now  with  penitence  for 
his  fault,  and  ready  to  share  the  martyr's  fate,  came 
and  fell  down  at  his  feet,  with  many  tears  imploring 
his  pardon,  and  conjuring  him  by  the  love  of  Jesus  to 
be  reconciled  to  him  before  his  death ;  but  the  dying 


52  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

champion  for  Christ  withheld  the  solicited  absolution, 
and  showed  no  sign  of  compassion  for  his  broken- 
hearted brother.^  Can  any  one  imagine  that,  in  a 
case  like  this,  the  tortures  endured,  or  the  fortitude 
that  endured  them,  or  the  zeal  that  led  to  their  endur- 
ance, or  the  love  of  Christ  that  shone  so  brightly  in 
the  devouring  flames,  could  be  accepted  of  God  as  a 
perfect  and  well-pleasing  sacrifice,  when  the  victim 
was  so  sadly  wanting  in  love  to  the  contrite  delin- 
quent at  his  feet?  Such  an  instance  of  heroic 
endurance  might  result  from  that  self-righteousness 
which  substitutes  its  own  sufferings  for  those  of  the 
Redeemer,  or  from  that  fierce  desire  of  fame  which 
dares  to  snatch  the  martyr's  crown  from  out  the  fire ; 
but,  in  the  one  case  or  the  other,  it  has  nothing  of 
the  Christian  temper,  and  cannot  reasonably  hope  to 
obtain  the  Christian  reward ;  especially,  if  there  be 
manifest  with  it  that  cruel  implacability,  that  merci- 
less hardness  of  heart,  which  seems  more  suitable  to 
a  fiend  in  the  flames  of  hell  than  to  a  saint  in  the 
flames  of  martyrdom. 

"  Do  we  not  see  many  persons,"  says  one  of  the 
most  famous  of  French  preachers,  "  devoted  martyrs 
of  penance  and  self-mortification,  who  are  neverthe- 
less most  lively  in  their  resentments  and  animosities  ? 
Let  us  apply  this,  and  say  to  ourselves :  —  Though  I 
may  pass  all  my  life  in  prayer  and  other  holy  exer- 
cises, though  I  should  immolate  myself  as  a  victim 
upon  the  altar  of  God,  yet  all  my  labors,  devotions, 
austerities,  and  self-sacrifices,  would  be  useless  with- 
out charity.  Great  lesson  for  us,  and  suited  to  make 
*  Eusebius. 


CHARITY   AND   MARTYRDOM.  53 

thousands  tremble,  both  in  the  world  and  in  the 
Church,  who,  suffering  to  excess  in  other  points 
of  morals  and  self-discipline,  live  very  loosely,  or 
rather  give  themselves  great  license,  with  regard  to 
charity ! "  ^ 

In  the  mere  sufferings  of  his  creatures,  God  takes 
no  pleasure.  It  is  the  spirit  in  which  they  suffer,  the 
meek  endurance,  the  sustaining  charity,  that  renders 
the  sacrifice  acceptable  in  his  sight.  By  their  pain 
and  death  he  is  neither  profited  nor  glorified;  nor 
hath  he  in  these  any  pleasure  or  complacency,  except 
only  in  so  far  as  they  are  expressive  of  noble  and 
magnanimous  principles.  What  value  can  he  set 
upon  the  death  of  a  Guiteau,  or  upon  the  tortures 
endured  by  Balthazar  Gerard,  the  assassin  of  William 
of  Orange  ?  In  such  cases  the  motive  is  wrong,  and 
the  spirit  evinced  is  the  very  opposite  of  love.  We 
may  sometimes  need  that  others  should  suffer  for  our 
good,  but  with  God  there  can  be  no  such  necessity. 
Independent  of  men  and  angels,  his  blessedness  is 
perfect,  and  his  glory  is  infinite  ;  and  from  no  earthly 
or  heavenly  sacrifice  can  possibl}^  issue  any  improve- 
ment of  the  one,  or  any  additional  revenue  of  the 
other.  Not  suffering,  but  charity,  is  his  comprehen- 
sive requirement ;  and  however  intense  or  continued, 
no  amount  of  suffering  can  supply  the  place  of 
charity. 

Apart  from  the  motive  which  prompts  the  endur- 
ance, the  utmost  that  we  can  endure  is  nothing.  In 
suffering,  as  in  giving,  a  man  may  be  entirel}^  selfish. 
His  suffering,  like  his  giving,  may  be  mere  hypocris}'- 
J  Bourdaloue, 


54  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

and  idolatry.  He  may  consent  to  bear  the  severest 
tortures  from  others,  or  may  even  inflict  the  severest 
tortures  upon  himself,  merely  to  appease  an  angry 
conscience,  to  win  the  rewards  of  virtue,  or  make  an 
immortal  name ;  but  if  so,  he  suffers  for  himself,  and 
his  suffering  is  no  act  of  charity.  On  the  other  hand, 
charity  is  perpetual  martyrdom  —  in  will,  if  not  in 
deed;  charity  is  a  constant  readiness  to  surrender 
every  thing  —  even  life  itself  if  necessary  —  for  the 
benefit  of  the  brethren  and  the  rescue  of  ruined 
souls.  Such  a  spirit  sanctifies  all  suffering;  and  even 
when  there  is  nothing  suffered,  constitutes  in  itself  a 
sacrifice  well-pleasing  to  God.  Had  you  a  thousand 
bodies  to  give,  and  gave  them  all  to  be  burned,  with- 
out charity  it  would  profit  you  nothing. 

In  the  "  Te  Deum  Laudamus "  we  sing  of  "  the 
noble  army  of  martyrs."  Could  we  see  the  fire- 
crowned  host,  in  their  heavenly  panoply,  following 
the  Captain  of  their  salvation,  as  they  march  through 
trial  to  triumph,  how  much  might  we  find  to  admire 
and  imitate  in  the  love  that  gave  such  power  of 
meek  endurance  and  heroic  fortitude  as  made  them 
more  than  conquerors !  There  falls  the  head  of  the 
holy  Baptist  at  the  feet  of  a  dancing  damsel.  There 
kneels  St.  Stephen  beneath  a  shower  of  stones,  and 
dies  praying  for  his  murderers.  There  plunges  St. 
James  from  a  lofty  parapet,  to  be  brained  by  a  full- 
er's club  below.  There  hangs  St.  Andrew  on  a  cross 
shaped  like  the  letter  X  for  the  more  exquisite  tor- 
ture of  its  victim.  There  marches  St.  Peter  from 
the  Mamertine  Prison  across  the  Tiber,  to  his  cruci- 


CHAEITY  AND  MARTYRDOM.  55 

fixion  head  downward  on  the  Montorio.  There 
passes  St.  Paul  through  the  Ostian  Gate  along  the 
Ostian  Way,  a  noble  sacrifice,  "now  ready  to  be 
offered."  There  sails  St.  John  toward  the  dreary 
isle  of  Patmos,  bearing  into  exile  a  life  so  charmed 
with  love,  that  the  deadly  chalice  could  not  quench 
it,  nor  the  bath  of  boiling  oil  dissolve  it.  There 
goes  the  brave  Ignatius,  carrying  the  Crucified  in  his 
heart,  caressing  his  chains  and  calling  them  •  his 
jewels,  to  meet  the  lions  in  the  Flavian  Amphitheatre. 
There  stands  the  aged  Polycarp  unbound  in  the 
flames,  chanting  his  "  Gloria  in  Excelsis "  with  as 
much  exultation  as  if  the  element  of  his  torture  were 
the  horses  and  chariot  of  Elijah  returned  for  another 
passenger. 

But  the  time  would  fail  me  to  tell  of  Linus,  roast- 
ed by  a  slow  fire  —  of  Lawrence,  broiled  like  a  fish 
upon  a  gridiron  —  of  Irenseus,  heading  a  column  of 
eighteen  thousand  martyrs  in  Gaul  —  of  Pothinus,  a 
hundred  years  old,  starving  amidst  the  stifling  filth 
and  darkness  of  his  dungeon  —  of  Sanctus,  answering 
every  demand  of  his  judges  with  his  Christianus  sum, 
and  maintaining  the  same  good  confession  at  the  stake 
till  his  power  of  utterance  is  gone  —  of  Stephen  and 
Amnianati,  cut  down  by  the  sword  of  imperial  ven- 
geance while  celebrating  with  their  brethren  the  com- 
memorative feast  of  redeeming  love  in  the  sunless 
crypts  of  the  catacombs  —  of  Perpetua  and  Blandina, 
the  one  enclosed  in  a  net  to  be  tossed  and  gored  by  a 
wild  buffalo,  the  other  encouraging  her  little  brother 
to  faith  and  fortitude  while  enduring  herself  every 
indignity  that  hate  and  cruelty  could  suggest,  before 


56  PAULINE   CHARITY. 

the  final  stroke  releases  both  from  the  tormentors  — 
of  Origen  and  Chrysostom,  with  many  thousands 
more,  of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy,  driven  into 
exile,  wandering  in  desert  solitudes,  perishing  of  ex- 
posure and  famine,  falling  a  prey  to  ravenous  beasts, 
hunted  like  partridges  among  the  mountains,  walled 
up  to  sufi'ocate  or  starve  in  the  caverns  where  they 
have  taken  refuge  —  whole  congregations  of  men, 
women,  and  little  children,  burned  in  the  churches 
where  they  have  assembled  for  worship — others  sewed 
up  in  sacks  with  fierce  and  venomous  creatures,  and 
cast  into  the  sea  —  others  enveloped  with  bear-skins, 
to  be  torn  by  savage  dogs  for  the  amusement  of  more 
savage  men  —  others  wrapped  in  cotton  and  smeared 
with  pitch,  to  be  ignited  as  torches  for  illuminating 
the  nightly  revels  of  Nero  with  the  Roman  popu- 
lace. 

And,  but  for  the  holy  faith  and  charity  which  sus- 
tained them,  how  wretched  had  been  the  lives  of 
those  who  in  time  of  persecution  betook  themselves 
to  the  dismal  catacombs,  where  they  could  enjoy 
freedom  of  worship  —  where  they  labored,  and  suf- 
fered, and  died  —  where  their  children  were  born 
and  baptized,  married  and  buried,  many  of  them, 
without  ever  seeing  the  open  sunlight,  or  breathing 
the  free  air  of  heaven !  The  tourist  of  to-day,  as  he 
threads  those  narrow  labyrinthian  passages,  sees  three 
tiers  of  tombs  —  sometimes  four  or  five  —  in  the  walls 
on  either  hand,  where  myriads  of  saints  sleep  in 
Jesus  awaiting  the  blessed  resurrection.  In  some  of 
these  subterranean  cemeteries,  especially  that  of  Sant' 
Alessandro,  where  the  graves  have  been  opened,  are 


CHAEITY   AND  MARTYRDOM.  57 

beheld  skeletons  and  fragments  of  human  forms  lying 
just  as  they  were  placed  here  by  living  friends  so 
many  centuries  ago,  with  the  little  amphorce  of  solidi- 
fied blood,  the  Christian  monograms  and  sacramental 
symbols,  and  the  precious  records  of  faith  and  hope 
rudely  engraved  upon  rough  slabs  of  stone.  One  of 
these  inscriptions  informs  us  of  a  stranger,  perchance 
from  Jerusalem  or  Antioch,  who  had  come  to  visit 
his  Roman  brethren;  and,  being  accused  of  Chris- 
tianity, magnanimously  confessed  the  fact,  and  hero- 
ically suffered  for  the  faith.  Another,  after  a  some- 
what similar  notice,  concludes  with  these  touching 
words  :  "  O  miserable  days  !  when  we  can  no  longer 
worship  the  Lord  securely  even  in  caverns,  and  dying 
enjoy  not  the  hope  of  burial  by  our  friends  !  " 

Martyrs  without  charity,  think  you,  were  these? 
Nay,  it  was  the  love  of  Christ  and  those  who  called 
him  Lord,  that  thus  surrendered  all,  even  life  itself, 
with  songs  of  joy  and  praise.  It  was  the  great  love 
of  humanity  perishing  in  ignorance  of  its  redemption^ 
that  led  them,  as  in  triumphal  procession,  garlanded 
and  applauded,  to  the  dungeon,  to  torture,  and  to 
death.  This  divine  unity  of  spirit  it  was,  this  holy 
fellowship  of  kindred  souls,  this  sublime  sympathy 
with  all  that  is  pure  and  good,  this  self-sacrificing 
compassion  for  those  who  were  living  and  dying  in 
their  sins,  that  gave  Paul  and  Silas  a  hymn  at  mid- 
night in  the  Philippian  jail,  made  Perpetua  prefer  a 
prison  to  a  prsetorian  palace,  and  prompted  Cyprian 
when  condemned  to  the  block  to  exclaim  —  "  God  be 
praised !  "  Wanting  charity,  all  their  heroic  endur- 
ance had  profited  them  nothing. 


58  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

Sufferings  such  as  those  of  the  early  Christians  for 
righteousness'  sake  none  of  us  have  ever  known,  nor 
to  the  superficial  observer  does  it  seem  very  likely 
that  any  of  us  will  ever  be  called  to  these  sad  expe- 
riences. To-day  we  see  not  the  bride  of  Christ  and 
mother  of  saints  weeping  in  sackcloth  and  ashes  at 
the  graves  of  her  slaughtered  children;  nor  fear, 
either  for  ourselves  or  for  our  offspring,  proscription 
or  confiscation,  prison  or  exile,  the  rack  or  the  burn- 
ing. No  imperial  city  rings  to-day  with  the  shout  of 
a  bloodthirsty  populace  —  "  Christiani  ad  leones  !  "  nor 
huge  Coliseum  roars  with  the  wild  applause  of  eighty- 
five  thousand  murderers,  under  the  gloating  smiles  of 
a  diademmed  Domitian  or  Maxentius,  at  seeing  the 
lambs  of  the  Good  Shepherd, 

"  Impurpled  in  tlie  flood 
Of  their  victorious  blood," 

gladly  yielding  up  their  lives  for  Him  who  loved  them 
unto  the  death.  A  little  scorn  or  contempt,  a  few 
silly  reproaches  or  senseless  calumnies,  here  and  there 
the  pointless  sarcasm  of  some  brainless  unbeliever,  or 
the  abortive  malediction  of  a  Balaam  whom  his  very 
beast  rebukes  —  these  are  about  all  we  now  know  of 
persecution  for  the  love  of  Christ  and  his  kingdom. 
To  a  feeble  faith,  however,  some  of  these  things  may 
be  more  difficult  of  endurance  than  the  severest 
forms  of  martyrdom;  and  many  a  gentle  and  tender 
spirit  that  would,  if  called  to  the  test,  have  sprung  to 
pluck  the  prize  from  the  flames,  has  quailed  at  the 
scoff  of  the  sceptic  or  yielded  to  the  solicirtations  of 
the  tempter.     But  days  of   distress  and  tribulation 


CHABITY  AND  MARTYRDOM.  59 

there  yet  may  come  to  the  Church,  equal  to  the  worst 
of  which  I  have  spoken.  The  times  are  ominous, 
and  none  but  He  who  knoweth  the  hearts  of  men 
and  seeth  the  end  from  the  beginning  can  certainly 
foretell  the  future.^ 

The  volcanic  mountain,  quiescent  for  many  centu- 
ries, may  be  clothed  with  stately  forests  and  fruitful 
vineyards ;  but  those  who  dwell  about  its  base  some- 
times hear  prophetic  mutterings  and  feel  premoni- 
tory tremors,  betokening  the  presence  of  baleful  forces 
within,  which  shall  some  day  shatter  the  solid  strata 
above  them,  and  flood  the  fair  campagna  for  many 
a  league  with  lava.  Under  the  surface  of  society 
throughout  the  civilized  world,  are  now  at  work 
elements  hostile  to  all  religion  and  morality,  as  well 
as  to  all  orderly  government  and  intellectual  culture 
—  agencies  which  seem  waiting  only  for  opportunity 
and  competent  leadership,  to  produce  a  convulsion 
that  shall  rock  to  ruin  whatever  is  most  precious 
and  conservative  in  your  Christian  institutions.  Let 
communism,  socialism,  nihilism,  spiritualism,  agnostic 
atheism,  science  without  a  Saviour,  speculative  phi- 
losophy without  a  personal  God,  have  free  course  for  a 
few  years ;  and  we  shall  see  guillotines  erected  at  our 
church-doors,  and  flames  bursting  forth  beneath  our 
pulpits  and  altars.  Unless  God  arise  and  plead  his 
own  cause,  these  hills  and  vales  may  yet  redden  with 
the  blood  of  martyrs,  and  some  of  you  who  now  hear 
me  may  be  called  to  testify  for  Jesus  at  the  tribu- 
nal, in  the  dungeon,  and  on  the  scaffold. 

Who  is  ready  for  the  ordeal  ?     Where  is  the  love 

1  Dr.  Arnold. 


60  PAULINE  CHAKITY. 

that  shall  bear  our  Israel  triumphant  through  the 
Red  Sea  ?  Nothing  will  stand  the  test  but  Pauline 
charity.  That  is  inyincible  because  it  is  divine. 
That  must  be  victorious,  for  it  is  the  mind  that  was 
in  Christ.  It  can  give  Daniel  better  company  in  the 
den  of  lions,  than  he  ever  found  at  the  court  of 
Darius ;  and  furnish  his  three  heroic  Hebrew  brethren 
far  more  delightful  fellowship  in  the  fiery  furnace, 
than  any  of  their  enemies  enjoy  among  all  the  assem- 
bled thousands  on  the  plain  of  Dura.  Charity  is 
sweeter  than  life  and  stronger  than  death;  and  to 
suffer  with  the  Prince  of  sufferers,  and  like  him  to 
be  made  perfect  through  suffering,  is  an  honor  for 
which  kings  might  cast  away  their  crowns,  and  all 
the  votaries  of  the  world  abandon  the  deities  of  their 
idolatry.  For  proof  and  purification  the  gold  must 
be  submitted  to  the  fire ;  and  the  discipline  of  sorrow 
is  necessary  to  the  development  and  perfection  of 
Christian  character. 

"  God's  nightingales  have  ever  learned  to  sing 
Pressing  the  bosom  on  some  secret  thorn." 

Well  may  we  rejoice  in  those  tribulations  which 
are  the  pledges  and  preparatives  of  future  blessed- 
ness. Well  may  we  bear  up  bravely  under  the  light 
and  momentary  affliction  which  worketh  for  us  a  far 
more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory.  Where- 
fore, "beloved,  think  it  not  strange  concerning  the 
fiery  trial  that  is  to  try  you,  as  though  some  strange 
thing  happened  unto  you  :  but  rejoice  inasmuch  as 
ye  are  partakers  of  Christ's  sufferings,  that  when  his 
glory  shall  be  revealed  ye  may  be  glad  also  with 
exceeding  joy." 


CHAEITY  AND  JMAETYEDOM.  61 

"  Suffering,  when  it  weighs  severely, 
Stamps  the  Saviour's  image  clearly 

On  the  hearts  of  all  his  friends ; 
In  the  form  his  hands  have  moulded, 
Is  a  higher  life  unfolded, 

Through  the  suffering  which  he  sends. 

Suffering  curbs  the  wayward  passions. 
Childlike  tempers  in  us  fashions, 

And  the  will  to  his  subdues ; 
Thus  his  touch,  so  soft  and  healing. 
Each  disordered  power  and  feeling 

By  a  blessed  change  renews. 

Suffering  keeps  the  thoughts  compacted, 
That  the  soul  be  not  distracted 

By  the  world's  beguiling  art ; 
'Tis  like  some  angelic  warder, 
Ever  keeping  sacred  order 

In  the  chambers  of  the  heart. 

Suffering  tunes  the  heart's  emotion 
To  eternity's  devotion. 

And  awakes  a  warm  desire 
For  the  land  where  psalms  are  ringing. 
And  with  palms  the  martyrs  singing 

Sweetly  to  the  harpers'  choir." 

Hail,  heroic  spirits !  who,  having  finished  your 
course  with  joy  and  nobly  won  your  crowns,  are 
now  resting  in  hope  of  a  glorious  coronation  with 
your  King !  As  from  your  lofty  bowers  in  paradise 
you  look  back  upon  the  steep  and  rugged  path 
along  which  with  bleeding  feet  we  toil  after  you 
through  the  brier  and  the  thorn,  how  does  the  mem- 
ory of  past  sorrows  sweeten  the  thrills  of  your  pres- 


62  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

ent  bliss,  and  every  trial  recalled  swell  the  loud  song 
of  your  triumph  ! 

But  let  us  not  deceive  ourselves,  my  dear  brethren. 
Even  martyrdom,  as  well  as  miraculous  endowments 
and  the  utmost  profusion  of  alrasdeeds,  profiteth 
nothing  without  charity.  Let  us  learn  to  distinguish 
what  is  essential  in  religion  from  what  is  merely 
extraneous  and  auxiliary.  Apostolic  endowments, 
munificent  donations,  and  corporeal  sufferings,  are 
neither  elements  of  religion  nor  infallible  signs  of 
grace ;  and  all  may  be  found  where  there  is  no  pure 
faith,  nor  right  spirit,  nor  conscious  pardon,  nor  re- 
newal of  the  inner  man  after  the  image  of  God.  A 
loving  heart  is  worth  more  in  the  sight  of  Heaven 
than  all  the  extraordinary  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
enjoyed  by  the  church  of  Corinth ;  and  the  meek- 
ness and  gentleness  of  Jesus  Christ  —  the  all-endur- 
ing, all-sustaining,  all-forgiving  temper  so  sweetly 
described  and  strongly  commended  by  St.  Paul  — 
is  more  pleasing  to  the  Lord  than  the  treasures  of 
an  empire  distributed  in  alms  among  the  poor,  and 
rightly  esteemed  a  more  glorious  sacrifice  than  the 
bodies  of  a  thousand  saints  devoted  to  the  flames  of 
martyrdom.  At  the  very  best,  these  external  things 
are  only  the  expressions,  the  auxiliaries,  and  befit- 
ting accompaniments,  of  the  holy  and  heavenly  prin- 
ciple of  which  we  are  discoursing.  Let  us  not  rest 
in  them  for  salvation,  nor  in  any  thing  else  external 
to  the  spirit  of  true  religion  ;  but  see  that  we  possess 
that  love  to  God  and  man  which  constitutes  the  very 
essence   and   sum-total   of   practical   Christianity  — 


CHAEITY  AND   MAETYKDOM.  63 

the  copy  of  tlie  mind  of  Christ  —  the  seed  of  life 
eternal — without  which  all  our  privileges,  perform- 
ances and  self-sacrifices,  however  great  in  human 
esteem,  will  leave  us  in  a  state  of  spiritual  death 
and  hopeless  moral  ruin.  In  short,  dearly  beloved 
brethren,  let  us  carry  home  in  our  hearts  these  awful 
words  of  a  wise  man  inspired  of  God,  and  meditate 
on  them  when  we  sit  in  our  houses  and  when  we 
walk  by  the  way,  when  we  lie  down  at  night  and 
when  we  rise  with  the  morning,  in  the  busy  occupa- 
tions of  the  day  and  the  solemn  stillness  of  the 
night-watches,  in  the  ensnaring  intercourse  of  socie- 
t}^  and  the  sacred  solitude  of  devotion  :  —  "  Though 
I  speak  with  the  tongues  of  men  and  of  angels,  and 
have  not  charity,  I  am  become  as  sounding  brass  or 
a  tinkling  cymbal;  and  though  I  have  the  gift  of 
prophecy,  and  understand  all  mysteries  and  all 
knowledge ;  and  though  I  have  all  faith,  so  that  I 
could  remove  mountains,  and  have  not  charity,  I  am 
nothing ;  and  though  I  bestow  all  my  goods  to  feed 
the  poor,  and  though  I  give  my  body  to  be  burned, 
and  have  not  charity,  it  profiteth  me  nothing." 


64  PAULINE  CHARITY. 


CHARITY  LONG-SUFFERING. 

Charity  suffereth  long.  —  1  Cob.  xiii.  4. 

Pliny,  a  Roman  writer  of  the  first  century,  an 
avowed  enemy  of  Christianity,  says:  —  "I  esteem 
him  the  best  among  good  men,  who  forgives  faults  as 
though  he  were  daily  guilty  himself,  yet  abstains 
from  faults  as  though  he  never  forgave  any." 
Whence  did  a  heathen  derive  such  a  sentiment? 
Perhaps  from  the  very  religion  which  he  affected  to 
despise.  No  mere  human  philosophy  ever  inculcated 
a  doctrine  so  divine.  The  wisdom  of  Greece  and 
Rome  looked  upon  meekness  as  meanness  of  spirit, 
regarded  forgiveness  of  injuries  as  a  culpable  weak- 
ness, and  maintained  the  justness  of  resentment  and 
the  virtuousness  of  revenge.  Spontaneous  dictates 
of  the  natural  heart  are  these,  and  higher  the  natu- 
ral heart  has  never  risen. 

Seeing  and  feeling  the  difficulty  of  meeting  the 
requirements  of  the  Law  on  this  subject,  the  Jewish 
teachers  lowered  the  standard  by  a  false  interpreta- 
tion of  the  precept,  and  made  the  word  of  God  of 
none  effect  by  their  traditions.  The  Law  said, 
"Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself;"  the 
rabbi  said,  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  and  hate 


CHABITY   LONG-SUFFEEING.  65 

thine  enemy."  Christ  restored  the  standard  by  re- 
iterating and  amplifying  the  command,  and  insisting 
upon  its  strict  construction,  while  he  exposed  the 
folly  and  absurdity  of  its  rabbinical  glosses.  "  But 
I  say  unto  you.  Love  your  enemies,  bless  them  that 
curse  you,  do  good  to  them  that  hate  you,  and  pray 
for  them  that  despitefully  use  and  persecute  you." 

Of  all  the  Christian  requirements,  this  is  confess- 
edly the  most  difficult  of  observance,.  Our  pride 
opposes  it.  Our  selfishness  objects  to  it.  All  the 
feelings  of  the  natural  man  rise  up  against  it.  Its 
spirit  is  quite  incompatible  with  the  prevalent  max- 
ims and  current  customs  of  the  world.  No  one,  not 
created  anew  in  Christ  Jesus  and  led  by  the  Spirit 
of  God,  is  competent  to  its  performance.  The  pro- 
foundest  sages  of  pagan  antiquity,  deeming  it  utterly 
impracticable,  would  have  laughed  such  a  precept 
to  scorn.  And  now,  even  in  Christian  communities, 
and  among  those  who  have  been  baptized  into  the 
new  life,  few  comparatively  obey  the  blessed  man- 
date ;  while  the  great  mass,  and  many  who  profess 
to  follow  the  meek  and  merciful  Saviour,  live  in  the 
habitual  indulgence  of  the  malevolent  and  revenge- 
ful passions.^  "The  Golden  Rule  is  altered,"  says 
an  English  writer,  "  and  it  is  deemed  right  to  do  unto 
others  as  they  do  to  us.  Only  in  the  more  violent 
measures  is  the  retaliation  of  wrong  condemned  and 
disallowed ;  while  private  animosities,  personal  ren- 
contres, and  the  most  dishonorable  affairs  of  honor, 
if  they  do  not  too  seriously  impair  the  peace  and 
good   order  of  society,  are   tolerated,  justified   and 

1  Leighton. 


66  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

applauded.  Often,  indeed,  assassins  are  character^ 
ized  as  chivalrous  gentlemen,  and  murderers  are 
canonized  as  men  of  noble  and  magnanimous  princi- 
ples ;  wliile  he  who,  from  sympathy  with  God's  incar- 
nate charity,  disdains  to  resent  a  wrong,  or  declines 
a  challenge  to  mortal  combat,  is  looked  upon  as  a 
poor  craven-spirited  wretch,  unworthy  of  association 
with  these  saints  of  the  world's  calendar."  ^ 

How  different  is  all  this  from  the  doctrine  of  St. 
Paul !  "  Charity  suffereth  long  "  —  literally,  hath  a 
long  mind  —  that  is,  a  loving  spirit,  which  outlasts 
all  its  injuries,  and  overmeasures  all  the  malice  of  its 
enemies.  Long-suffering  is  that  mild  and  merciful 
temper,  which  is  opposed  to  resentment  and  re- 
venge; which,  so  far  from  retaliating,  generously 
overlooks  or  excuses  the  fault,  and  pardons  and  still 
loves  the  offender.  Charity  grieves,  but  does  not 
hate.  She  rebukes,  but  does  not  denounce.  She 
seeks  to  avert  the  evil,  but  not  to  avenge  the  in- 
jured. She  remonstrates  earnestly  with  the  adver- 
sary, but  in  no  angry  mood,  and  with  no  reproachful 
words.  She  pities  him  for  his  unhappiness,  and 
would  fain  save  him  from  the  consequences  of  his 
error,  and  prevent  the  mischief  he  has  originated 
from  falling  upon  his  own  head.  Charity  has  spirit, 
but  no  asperity ;  ardor,  but  no  acrimony.  No  mali- 
cious feeling  can  the  charitable  man  cherish ;  no 
malevolent  design  can  he  indulge.  Amidst  all  trials 
and  persecutions,  he  maintains  a  calm  and  unruffled 
temper.  He  bears,  not  a  few  wrongs,  but  many ; 
1  John  Acgell  James. 


CHAEITZ  LONG-SUFFERING.  67 

and  forgives,  not  seven  times,  but  seventy  times 
seven.  However  long  the  evil  may  last,  his  love 
outlasts  the  evil  —  it  never  wearies.  Until  the 
necessity  becomes  extreme,  he  resorts  to  no  meas- 
ures even  for  his  own  vindication,  lest  by  so  doing 
he  should  injure  the  offender.  Rather  than  bring 
evil  upon  another,  though  that  evil  were  the  just 
reward  of  the  other's  misdoing,  he  prefers  to  suffer 
in  silence,  and  leave  all  judgment  to  Him  who  claims 
the  supreme  prerogative  of  vengeance.^  Such  is  the 
long-suffering  of  charity. 

For  the  exercise  of  this  amiable  disposition,  every 
Christian  must  have  frequent  occasion.  The  world 
is  full  of  selfishness,  and  selfishness  is  the  source 
of  all  unkind  feelings  and  unfriendly  actions,  and 
the  very  best  of  men  is  exposed  to  a  thousand  inju- 
ries and  provocations  from  his  fellow-men.  Where 
is  the  saint  —  in  what  age  or  what  land  did  he  live 
—  that  never  suffered  from  unkindness  or  jealousy, 
from  suspicion  or  censoriousness,  from  cold  neglect 
or  dishonest  dealing,  from  the  infirmity  of  a  friend 
or  the  malice  of  an  enemy,  from  the  arrogance  of 
those  above  him  or  the  envy  of  those  beneath  him, 
from  the  furious  rage  of  an  angry  spirit  or  the  insid- 
ious poison  of  a  detractive  tongue  ?  And  who  can 
hope  for  exemption  from  those  lesser  annoyances, 
intentional  or  unintentional,  which  result  from  in- 
congruities of  taste  and  diversities  of  custom,  and 
like  a  continual  dropping  wear  away  the  heart  —  the 
rough  manners,  the  hasty  speeches,  the  little  dis- 
1  Jolrn  Wesley. 


68  PAULINE  CHAKITr. 

courtesies,  tlie  inconsiderate  judgments,  the  unrea- 
sonable surmises,  the  accidental  misunderstandings, 
the  occasional  collision  of  opinions,  the  irreconcilable 
views  of  religious  truth,  the  frequent  levities  of 
trivial  or  humorous  discourse,  and  the  thousand  petty 
forms  of  selfishness  everywhere  encountered  in  the 
social  intercourse  of  mankind  ?  ^ 

"  The  discretion  of  a  man,"  saith  Solomon,  "  defer- 
reth  his  anger,  and  it  is  his  glory  to  pass  over  a 
transgression."  And  the  apostle  of  a  greater  than 
Solomon  saith:  —  "Recompense  to  no  man  evil  for 
evil;  if  it  be  possible,  as  much  as  lieth  in  you,  live 
peaceably  with  allmen  ;  avenge  not  yourselves,  but 
rather  give  place  unto  WTath ;  be  not  overcome  of 
evil,  but  overcome  evil  with  good."  Precepts  these, 
though  difficult  of  observance,  quite  easy  of  interpre- 
tation; simply  forbidding  the  retaliation  of  wrong, 
and  enjoining  benefit  in  return  for  injury.  But 
the  act,  of  course,  presupposes  the  feeling.  The 
heart  must  be  the  prompter,  and  love  must  be  with- 
out dissimulation.  No  counterfeit  affection  will 
suffice  for  the  duty.  You  have  to  subdue  your 
euemy  by  making  his  own  conscience  your  ally  ;  to 
ashame  him  out  of  his  sin  by  bringing  your  love  into 
contrast  with  his  hatred,  and  forcing  him  to  admire 
your  temper  while  he  cannot  help  abhorring  his  own. 
This  is  Christian  revenge.  Thus  you  turn  your 
face  to  the  foe,  and  wither  him  into  repentance  at 
your  feet.  By  rendering  good  for  evil,  you  heap 
coals  of  fire  on  his  head,  which  can  scarcely  fail  to 
melt  away  the   icy  incrustation   of  a   selfish  heart. 

1  Leighton. 


CHARITY  LONG-SUFFERING.  69 

But  there  is  no  lieat  in  painted  flame.  No  human 
philosophy,  nor  artificial  control  of  temper,  were 
adequate  to  such  a  conquest.  It  needs  the  reno- 
vating and  purifying  grace  of  God,  the  implantation 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  a  new  and  heavenly  principle. 
The  natural  heart  can  never  transcend  its  natural 
impulses.  The  wrong  within  must  be  righted.  The 
root  of  bitterness  must  be  eradicated.  •  Christ  must 
come  into  the  heart,  and  every  thing  must  submit  to 
his  gentle  rule.  You  must  welcome  him  as  your 
King,  commune  with  him  as  your  Friend ;  and,  sit- 
ting daily  at  his  feet,  and  lying  frequently  in  his 
bosom,  must  become  partaker  of  his  nature,  and 
learn  to  love  like  him.  Then  the  work  will  be  easy, 
the  duty  delightful,  and  long-suffering  its  own 
reward.^ 

Few  words  are  less  understood,  though  scarcely 
any  is  more  common,  than  the  term  "revenge."  By 
most  people,  nothing  is  deemed  deserving  of  that 
name,  short  of  malicious  and  violent  assault  upon 
person,  property,  or  character,  in  return  for  some 
injury  suffered  by  the  assailant.  But  are  there  not 
a  thousand  petty  acts  of  spite  and  ill-will,  which  fall 
as  properly  under  this  designation  as  the  most  fla- 
grant deeds  of  wrathful  retaliation?  If  I  refuse 
to  speak  to  my  offending  brother,  but  pass  him  by 
in  silent  scorn,  is  it  not  revenge  ?  If  I  take  pleasure 
in  talking  of  his  faults  and  infirmities,  and  delight  in 
depreciating  his  character  and  abilities  in  the  esteem 
of  others,  is  it  not  revenge  ?  If  I  watch  for  oppor- 
1  Frederick  Faber. 


70  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

tunities  to  annoy  him,  rejoice  in  having  caused  him 
any  inconvenience  or  pain,  or  cherish  on  his  account 
any  unkind  feelings  toward  his  family  or  his  friends, 
is  it  not  revenge  ?  Revenge  is  rendering  evil  for 
evil,  and  delighting  in  doiog  so.;  and  the  guilt  of  the 
act  is  determined,  not  by  the  amount  of  the  mischief 
done,  but  by  the  motive  that  prompts  the  measure. 
If  it  proceed  from  ill-will  and  aim  at  injury,  though 
the  actual  evil  resulting  be  very  slight  or  none  at  all, 
is  it  not  the  very  opposite  of  that  religion  whose 
Author  is  the  incarnation  of  mercy  and  whose  gos- 
pel originated  in  love  to'  his  enemies?  Revenge  is 
the  temper  of  hell,  and  the  Furies  shriek  in  its  train. 
It  has  turned  men  into  tigers,  and  women  into 
fiends;  has  crimsoned  the  earth  with  blood,  and 
burdened  the  air  with  wailing  and  lamentation. 
Nothing  can  be  more  hostile  to  the  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity ;  and  one  has  well  said,  that  "  revenge  is  a 
word  which  the  Christian  ought  to  blot  out  of  his 
vocabulary  with  his  own  penitential  tears,  or  with 
the  drops  of  his  gratitude  for  the  pardon  he  has 
received  from  God." 

"  But  may  I  not  defend  my  person,  property,  or 
reputation,  from  the  malicious  assault  of  an  enemy  ?  " 
With  certain  restrictions  and  qualifications,  unques- 
tionably you  may.  Is  your  person  in  danger  from 
ruffian  violence?  Then  resistance  is  not  revenge,, 
but  lawful  self-preservation.  Is  your  property  in 
peril  from  fraud  or  dishonest  dealing  ?  Then,  with- 
out any  infringement  of  the  law  of  love,  you  may 
resort  to  disinterested  mediation,  or  even  seek  legal 
redress.     Is  your  reputation  wounded  by  the  wanton 


CHAKITY  LONG-SUFFEHING.  71 

tongue  of  gossip  or  the  deadly  venom  of  calumny? 
Then,  from  a  variety  of  measures  involving  no  viola- 
tion of  the  rules  laid  down  by  our  blessed  Lord  and 
his  holy  apostles,  you  may  select  the  means  of  self- 
protection,  or  of  reparation  for  the  injury  you  have 
already  sustained.  But  in  every  instance  you  are 
bound  to  suppress  all  unkind  feelings,  to  restrain  all 
wrathful  ebullitions,  and  refrain  from  all  retaliatory 
demonstrations ;  and  that,  not  from  pride  or  policy, 
but  because  you  love  the  offender  as  you  love  yourself. 
Weakness  endures  injuries  because  revenge  is  im- 
practicable. Prudence  endures  injuries  because  re- 
venge is  impolitic.  Pride  endures  injuries  because 
revenge  is  undignified.  In  such  instances,  however, 
the  desire  of  revenge  still  rankles  in  the  heart; 
and  nothing  is  wanting  in  order  to  its  gratification, 
but  present  power,  prospective  impunity,  and  indem- 
nity against  disgrace.  Charity  eradicates  the  very 
wish,  and  melts  the  heart  in  sweet  compassion  over 
the  erring  brother.  Innumerable  minor  offences,  it 
passes  by  unnoticed,  or  with  only  a  sigh  for  the 
offender ;  and  those  which  require  confession,  retrac- 
tion, or  reparation,  it  treats  with  the  most  courteous 
consideration  and  the  most  delicate  tenderness.  It 
kindly  opens  the  way  for  explanation,  and  makes 
apology  an  easy  matter.  No  imperious  demands  does 
it  put  forth,  no  needless  menaces  of  prosecution  and 
punishment ;  but  sweetly  invites  to  conference,  and 
gently  wins  to  penitence  and  reparation.  Thus  the 
spark  is. quenched  before  it  kindles  into  flame,  setting 
on  fire  of  hell  the  whole  course  of  nature.  But  if  you 
suffer  your  feelings  to  get  the  better  of  your  reason 


72  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

and  your  conscience ;  if  you  become  incensed  against 
your  brother,  and  disregard  all  the  milder  remedies 
of  love ;  if  like  Achilles  you  retire  in  disgust  from 
the  field,  to  nurse  your  sullen  wi-ath  in  secret  and 
meditate  revenge;  then  is  your  spirit  not  that  of 
the  meek  and  lowly  in  heart,  then  is  your  temper  the 
very  reverse  of  that  charity  which  suffereth  long. 

How  calm  and  peaceful  the  soul  that  entertains 
this  heavenly  guest !  and  how  ought  its  influence  to 
harmonize  the  whole  Christian  community !  The 
members  of  a  parish  may  differ  no  little  in  natural 
endowments,  in  intellectual  culture,  in  social  position, 
in  political  preferences,  in  all  matters  of  mere  taste 
and  opinion,  and  even  in  the  minor  points  of  religious 
belief  and  ceremonial ;  but  whatever  their  differences, 
if  charity  rules  their  hearts,  there  will  be  such  candor, 
and  ingenuousness,  and  kind  consideration,  and  mu- 
tual forbearance  and  condescension  —  such  love  of 
truth,  and  such  yielding  to  conviction,  and  such  care- 
ful avoidance  of  offences,  and  such  scriptural  allow- 
ance for  infirmities,  and  such  honesty  and  simplicity  of 
purpose,  and  such  opportunity  of  cool  reflection  and 
calm  discussion,  and  such  readiness  for  the  Christian 
adjustment  of  all  accidental  disagreements  that  may 
arise — as  cannot  fail  to  render  all  bitterness  and 
contention  alien  to  the  society,  and  bind  the  whole 
brotherhood  together  in  the  sweetest  and  strongest 
sympathy.  In  such  a  community,  few  hasty  words 
will  be  spoken,  fewer  reported,  and  none  delighted 
in;  no  disingenuous  insinuations  indulged,  no  mali- 
cious aspersions  of  character,  nor  wanton  exaggera- 


CHARITY  LONG-SUFFERING.  73 

tions  of  faults  and  infirmities.^  Zeal  will  not  be 
wanting ;  but  it  will  be  zeal  for  truth  and  righteous- 
ness. Knowledge  will  not  be  wanting ;  but  it  will 
be  knowledge  sanctified  to  purposes  of  edification. 
Wisdom  will  not  be  wanting ;  but  it  will  be  wisdom 
from  above,  and  as  peaceable  as  it  is  pure.  Power 
will  not  be  wanting ;  but  it  will  be  power  directed 
by  benevolence,  and  seeking  the  comfort  and  pros- 
perity of  the  whole  body.  There  will  be  much  lib- 
erty of  opinion  ;  for  meekness  is  very  tolerant,  and 
gentleness  is  very  indulgent;  and  within  the  great 
outlines  of  the  Christian  faith,  there  is  room  for  varie- 
ty without  heresy.  And  there  will  be  much  patience 
toward  the  perverse  and  intractable,  and  much  for- 
bearance with  those  who  are  ignorant  and  out  of  the 
way,  and  much  sweetly  persuasive  effort  to  lead  them 
back  to  the  path  of  truth  and  duty.  And  the  con- 
stant interchange  of  kindly  offices  and  friendly  min- 
istries, with  calm  content,  and  holy  contemplation, 
and  scenes  of  eucharistic  fellowship,  and  the  heaven- 
ward soarings  of  hope,  and  the  pervading  influence 
of  an  untroubled  joy,  will  make  th%  parish  a  para- 
dise, teeming  with  all  things  beautiful,  inviting  celes- 
tial converse,  never  visited  with  rude  and  disastrous 
storms,  and  no  basilisk  lurking  among  the  roses. 

And  what  power  of  usefulness  would  there  be  in 
such  a  parish !  what  victory  over  the  world,  and  the 
various  forms  of  evil  with  which  the  world  abounds ! 
For  the  more  command  men  acquire  over  themselves, 
the  more  influence  they  are  capable  of  exercising 
over  others ;  and  the  more  gentle  they  are  in  spirit, 

1  Edward  Irving. 


74  PAULINE   CHAEITY. 

the  more  energetic  and  efficient  they  are  found' in 
action.  And  from  such  men,  if  they  are  intellectual, 
streams  of  sanctified  thought  will  flow  forth  in  dis- 
course and  written  books,  like  the  living  waters  in 
the  prophet's  vision ;  and  if  they  are  fond  of  enter- 
prise, heroic  achievements  in  the  cause  of  Christ, 
and  movements  of  philanthropy  quite  new  and  un- 
expected, confounding  all  the  prudential  calculations 
of  worldly  expediency,  will  reveal  themselves  like 
the  angelic  forms  in  the  pilgrim-patriarch's  dream  ; 
and  if  God  hath  granted  them  riches,  sheltering  arms 
will  be  thrown  around  the  friendless  and  homeless, 
missionary  establishments  will  spring  up  in  neglected 
neighborhoods,  the  gospel  will  be  carried  to  the 
houses  of  the  humble  poor,  famishing  souls  will  bless 
the  hand  that  breaks  to  them  the  bread  of  life,  and 
the  sound  of  Christian  footsteps  on  the  garret-stairs 
will  quicken  with  joy  the  pulsations  of  hearts  that 
are  growing  still  in  death.  For  the  long-suffering  of 
charity  is  not  feebleness,  nor  cowardice,  nor  indiffer- 
ence, nor  indeciswn,  nor  imbecility ;  but  a  principle 
perfectly  consonant  with  the  largest  mental  endow- 
ments, with  the  loftiest  aims  and  the  noblest  endeav- 
ors, with  great  freedom  of  speech,  and  firmness  of 
purpose,  and  unwearied  perseverance  in  well-doing ; 
while  it  is  totally  oj)posed  to  all  those  temporizing 
expedients  so  common  among  men  of  the  world,  and 
to  the  vacillating  policy  and  inconstant  endeavors  so 
often  characteristic  of  secular  associations.^  Christ  is 
our  example  of  long-suffering  charity ;  yet  witness 
how  he  clears  his  Father's  temple  of  the  sacrilegious 

1  Bishop  Wilberfoice. 


CHAEITY  LONG-SUFFERING.  75 

throng,  and  rebukes  the  wickedness  of  the  scribes 
and  Pharisees  —  rulers  of  the  religions  ascendant  in 
his  day !  And  how  uncompromising  with  sin,  schism, 
heresy,  apostasy,  infidelity,  and  every  anti-Christian 
spirit,  were  his  meek  and  lowly  followers  in  the 
primitive  times  of  the  Church!  It  is  the  depth  of 
the  river,  not  its  shallowness,  that  makes  it  so  smooth 
and  gentle  in  its  flow;  and  the  mountain  stream, 
which  in  the  drought  of  summer  went  brawling  from 
rock  to  rock  and  from  pool  to  pool,  with  a  thousand 
disturbances  of  its  surface  and  misdirections  of  its 
course,  now,  when  the  autumn  rains  have  fallen,  or 
the  winter  snows  have  melted,  and  tributary  torrents 
have  swollen  it  to  full  flood,  glides  with  an  evenness 
and  beauty  between  its  green  banks,  with  a  placid- 
ity of  strength  and  a  unity  of  might  which,  while 
pleasant  to  behold,  is  terrible  to  withstand.  Even  so 
charity,  subordinating  all  the  feelings  and  faculties 
of  the  soul  to  one  divine  impulse,  and  consecrating 
all  to  one  holy  and  benevolent  purpose,  flows  on  with 
a  mild  and  gentle  majesty,  undisturbed  by  the  rude 
speeches  and  unkind  actions  of  erring  or  wicked 
men,  and  never  diverted  from  its  aim  by  the  annoy- 
ing accidents  of  society,  straight  forward  to  the  vast 
ocean  of  blessed  being,  its  destined  union  with  God 
in  Christ,  and  all  that  is  great  and  good  and  happy 
in  the  universe.  The  tranquil  meekness  of  charity, 
therefore,  is  perfectly  consistent  with  true  grandeur 
of  soul,  and  of  all  true  grandeur  of  soul  is  itself  an 
essential  element ;  even  as  the  most  perfect  harmony 
consists  with  the  mightiest  tones  in  music,  and  the 
nicest  cultivation  of  plants  contributes  to  their  most 


76  PAUUNE  CHARITY. 

stately  forms  and  most  luxuriant  fruitfulness,  and  the 
careful  discipline  of  domestic  animals  results  in  the  de- 
velopment of  superior  stature,  with  more  strength  of 
muscle,  and  greater  fleetness  of  course,  and  whatever 
else  belongs  to  the  utmost  perfection  of  their  nature.^ 

In  conclusion,  therefore,  beloved  brethren,  I  hearti- 
ly commend  to  your  most  earnest  attention  the  state- 
ment on  which  I  have  now  discoursed.  It  will  do 
for  a  domestic  motto,  or  a  maxim  in  business.  The 
lawyer  needs  it  at  the  bar,  the  witness  upon  the  stand, 
the  juror  in  the  box,  and  the  judge  upon  the  bench. 
The  statesman  wants  it  in  the  senate,  the  general 
in  the  field,  the  mechanic  in  his  shop,  the  farmer  at 
his  plough,  the  merchant  with  his  customers,  the  pro- 
fessor with  his  pupils,  the  master  with  his  servants, 
and  the  pastor  with  his  flock.  Let  ladies  have  it 
printed  upon  their  visiting-cards,  students  write  it 
upon  the  fly-leaves  of  their  text-books,  and  every 
occupation  and  profession  emblazon  it  in  their  public 
advertisements.  Think  of  it  when  you  go  forth  in 
the  morning  to  encounter  the  thousand  unknown 
provocations  that  await  you ;  and  recall  it  when  you 
return  in  the  evening,  weary  and  jaded  in  spirit  with 
the  annoyances  and  vexations  of  the  day ;  and  when 
you  lie  down  to  your  needed  rest,  let  it  mingle  with 
your  last  waking  thoughts,  and  flow  like  an  angel 
melody  into  the  dreams  of  the  night.  Inscribe  it 
upon  the  doors  of  your  dwellings ;  record  it  upon  the 
walls  of  your  churches ;  engrave  it  upon  the  living 
tables  of  your  hearts :  "  Charity  suffereth  long." 
1  living's  Last  Days. 


CHAKITY  BENIGNANT.  77 


VI. 

CHARITY  BENIGNANl 

Charity  is  kind.  —  1  Cor.  xiii.  4. 

Love  is  a  fair  tree,  having  two  great  branches ; 
one  of  which  rises  directly  toward  the  Creator, 
while  the  other  reaches  forth  on  all  sides  toward 
the  creature ;  each  sustaining  its  several  minor 
ramifications,  with  their  respective  foliage,  flowers, 
and  fruits;  and  both  together  constituting  the  per- 
fect tree  of  life,  the  entire  substance  of  practical 
Christianity,  the  whole  duty  of  man. 

In  these  homilies  we  are  occupied  only  with  the 
latter — charity;  and  the  particular  attribute  of  it 
to  which  I  now  ask  your  attention  is  benignity ; 
not  the  benignity  of  unregenerate  and  unsanctified 
nature,  but  the  benignity  of  the  new  creation  in 
Christ  Jesus ;  that  cordial  good-will  which  the  Holy 
Spirit  of  God  produces  in  those  whom  he  renovates 
and  purifies  by  his  grace,  not  toward  the  Christian 
brotherhood  of  the  baptized  exclusively,  nor  merely 
toward  the  larger  fraternity  of  mankind  in  general, 
but  toward  the  whole  vast  family  of  the ,  infinite 
Father,  through  all  its  orders  and  gradations,  from 
the  mightiest  archangel  to  the  minutest  insect. 

"Charity  is  kind"  —  literally,   full  of  goodness. 


78  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

She  is  courteous  and  obliging,  gentle  and  conde- 
scending, tender-hearted  and  compassionate,  mildly 
persuasive  to  the  erring,  warmly  sympathetic  to  the 
suffering,  sweetly  affectionate  and  generously  self- 
sacrificing  to  all.  "And  what  is  most  wonderful," 
says  a  French  author  before  quoted,  "is  that  she 
inspires  with  the  same  spirit  those  who  are  naturally 
of  a  rude,  sour,  savage,  and  altogether  impracticable 
temper.  Whence  it  comes,  that  according  to  the 
world  even,  there  are  no  persons  more  gentle  and 
sociable,  more  civil  and  accommodating,  as  far  as  it 
is  permitted  by  the  law  of  God,  than  those  who  are 
truly  virtuous  and  devout.  And  if,  on  the  contrary, 
one  sees  in  them  a  peevish  and  irritable  disposition ; 
if  one  finds  them  cold,  stern,  and  inaccessible,  rough 
and  barbarous  in  their  manners ;  it  is  to  themselves, 
to  their  own  fallen  and  corrupt  nature,  and  not  to 
devotion,  that  the  fault  must  be  attributed.  For 
true  devotion  is  charitable;  and  what  the  world 
does  from  a  profane  spirit,  charity  does  from  a 
Christian  spirit;  which  is,  to  soften  the  manners, 
and  to  polish  them."^ 

Who  among  you  all,  in  his  intercourse  with  man- 
kind, has  not  often  encountered  a  rigid  and  uncom- 
promising disposition,  which  consults  nothing  but  its 
own  selfish  and  capricious  humor,  and  never  yields 
at  all  to  the  taste  or  the  convenience  of  others  — 
walking  with  arms  akimbo  through  the  crowd,  or 
with  dangeous  weapons  in  both  hands,  annoying  or 
injuring  all  with  whom  it  comes  in  contact?  Of 
1  Bourdaloue. 


CHAEITY  BENIGNANT.  79 

this  uncompliant  and  unaccommodating  spirit,  char- 
ity is  the  very  reverse ;  as  far  as  it  honestly  and 
innocently  can,  adapting  itself  to  the  manners  and 
customs  of  its  neighbors,  and  not  willingly  grieving 
or  wantonly  offending  them  even  in  the  smallest 
matters.  In  things  lawful  and  things  indifferent,  it 
bends  to  the  partialities  and  predilections  of  others, 
studying  to  please  all  for  their  good  to  edification. 
It  would  not  needlessly  crush  the  wing  of  an  insect, 
much  less  inflict  upon  a  rational  and  immortal  being 
an  evil  remediless  and  everlasting.  It  is  eminently 
pacific  and  conciliatory;  as  far  as  possible  without 
any  compromise  of  the  Christian  law,  endeavoring  to 
live  peaceably  with  all  men,  and  laboring  in  many 
ways  to  promote  the  harmony  of  human  society.  As 
the  sea  is  composed  of  drops,  and  the  earth  is  com- 
pacted of  atoms,  and  the  daylight  is  only  a  profusion 
of  inappreciable  rays,  and  forest  and  field  are  re- 
freshed and  beautified  by  millions  of  imperceptible 
particles  of  dew,  so  it  is  the  aggregate  of  little 
things  that  makes  the  happiness  or  unhappiness  of 
domestic  and  social  life ;  and  charity  is  attentive  to 
the  minutest  circumstance  that  can  affect  the  comfort 
and  welfare  of  mankind,  planting  here  a  lily  and 
there  a  rose  where  she  cannot  convert  the  whole 
desert  into  a  paradise,  pouring  in  a  thousand  tiny 
rivulets  to  swell  the  great  ocean  of  human  blessed- 
ness, and  thus  impressing  the  universal  conviction  of 
her  kindness.^ 

There  are  some  people  so  selfish  and  unsocial,  that 
1  J.  A.  James. 


80  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

it  is  impossible  to  elicit  from  them  any  sympathy,  to 
draw  them  into  any  congenial  fellowship,  or  to  enlist 
their  interest  in  the  affairs  of  others,  except  in  so 
far  only  as  those  affairs  are  influential  of  their  own. 
Like  so  many  statues  of  ice,  each  in  its  house  of  ice, 
looking  forth  with  fixed  and  beamless  eyes  upon 
frozen  vacancy,  they  live  in  cold  and  dreary  isola- 
tion of  spirit,  with  no  genial  impulses,  no  fraternal 
sentiments,  no  philanthropic  outgoing  of  the  heart. 
The  very  opposite  of  this  chilling  selfishness  is  Chris- 
tian charity,  and  quite  incompatible  with  so  repul- 
sive a  spirit  is  the  benignity  which  she  breathes  on 
all  around.  Social,  genial,  generous-hearted,  full  of 
mercy  and  good  fruits,  she  is  always  planning  and 
projecting  something  for  the  benefit  of  mankind. 
Claiming  kindred  with  all,  she  enjoys  the  good  of 
all,  and  rejoices  in  the  blessedness  of  universal 
being.  She  has  a  sort  of  property  in  the  interest  of 
gthers,  a  personal  share  in  the  vast  fund  of  crea- 
ture felicity ;  beholding  with  benevolent  satisfaction, 
not  only  the  joy  of  men  and  angels,  but  also  the 
humbler  gratification  of  beast,  and  bird,  and  fish, 
and  fly,  and  crawling  worm.  But  especially  is  she 
alive  to  all  that  may  influence  for  weal  or  woe  the 
condition  of  our  fallen  race ;  listening  with  tender 
emotion  to  the  tale  of  sorrow,  and  weeping  for 
others'  misfortunes  as  if  they  were  her  own ;  pitying 
their  faults  as  well  as  their  infirmities,  and  rather 
extenuating  than  exaggerating  their  most  serious 
delinquencies  ;  instead  of  reporting  to  their  prejudice 
the  peccadilloes  and  shortcomings  she  cannot  help 
observing,  seeking  for  redeeming  qualities,  and  conn- 


CHAEITY  BENIGNANT.  81 

tervailing  the  evil  with  the  good;  with  no  feigned 
sorrow  or  counterfeit  lamentation,  deploring  the 
miseries  which  sinners  are  bringing  upon  themselves, 
and  bewailing  with  woful  tears  their  foreseen  calam- 
ity as  Jesus  bewailed  the  anticipated  doom  of  Jeru- 
salem. Nor  is  her  sympathy  with  human  suffering 
and  compassion  for  perishing  souls  a  feeling  of 
unmingled  pain,  for  her  tears  are  holy,  her  pity  is 
divine,  and  love  is  peaceful  as  the  heart  of  God.^ 
Not  seeking  her  own  gratification,  she  enjoys  it  un- 
sought, and  with  it  a  far  superior  pleasure.  The 
intelligence  is  obeyed,  the  conscience  is  satisfied ; 
and  in  full  sympathy  with  the  mercy  that  gave  the 
unspeakable  gift  to  man,  charity  justifies  in  the  eyes 
of  the  moral  universe  the  apostolic  statement  of  its 
kindness. 

There  may  be  sensibility  without  benevolence, 
lively  emotion  without  corresponding  action,  a  ten- 
der concern  for  human  wretchedness  without  the 
least  effort  toward  a  remedy  ;  or  the  will  may  be  so 
influenced  by  the  feeling  as  to  lead  to  some  practical 
issue,  and  yet  that  issue  may  be  marred  by  a  selfish 
motive,  aiming  more  at  its  own  gratification  than  the 
good  of  others.  Such  kindness  is  wholly  void  of  vir- 
tue, and  nothing  but  a  specious  and  imposing  form  of 
selfishness ;  and  when  tried,  it  will  be  found  infirm 
as  the  sand,  inconstant  as  the  wind,  and  as  little 
capable  of  bearing  the  blasts  of  adversity  as  the 
marsh-reed  is  of  withstanding  the  fury  of  the  tem- 
pest. But  the  kindness  of  Christian  charity,  rest- 
1  Saurin. 


82  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

ing  upon  the  solid  rock  wliich  forms  the  basis  of  all 
virtue,  rising  no  less  from  holy  volition  than  from 
emotional  impulse,  and  following  the  light  of  sanc^ 
fied  reason  rather  than  the  ignis  fatuus  of  capricious 
feeling,  is  a  stable  and  unvarying  principle,  which 
never  wearies  in  well-doing,  and  cannot  be  content 
for  a  single  day  without  contributing  in  some  way 
to  the  stock  of  human  happiness.  It  does  not  wait 
for  Lazarus  to  be  laid  at  its  gate ;  but,  like  the  kind- 
ness of  the  God  Incarnate,  goes  about  doing  good, 
walking  the  earth  like  an  angel  from  heaven,  and 
everywhere  scattering  its  blessings  as  the  sun  scat- 
ters his  beams.  Sublime  indeed  is  the  daring  of 
charity,  aspiring  to  the  emulation  even  of  the  divine 
beneficence  !  Charity  is  the  mainspring  that  moves 
all  the  machinery  of  Omnipotence,  keeps  in  constant 
revolution  the  manifold  wheels  of  Providence,  and 
marshals  every  attribute  of  the  Eternal  Father  in 
behalf  of  his  militant  and  suffering  children.  It 
spreads  the  wing  of  every  courier  seraph,  and  bares 
the  arm  of  every  guardian  cherub.  The  Universal 
Monarch  it  brought  down  to  the  manger,  and  the 
Prince  of  Life  it  led  forth  to  the  felon's  cross.  And 
still  it  stirs  the  utmost  depths  of  Christian  thought 
to  devise  means  and  methods  of  benefiting  those  for 
whom  Christ  died;  quickens  every  mental  faculty, 
and  consecrates  it  to  the  blessed  work  of  benevo- 
lence ;  feeds  the  hungry,  clothes  the  naked,  comforts 
the  mourner  in  sackcloth,  pours  a  cheering  light  into 
the  dungeon,  bends  like  a  blessing  over  the  couch  of 
sickness,  watches  the  stars  out  by  the  side  of  the 
wasted  sufferer,  visits  the  widow  and  the  fatherless 


CHARITY  BENIGNANT.  83 

in  their  affliction,  vindicates  innocence  from  the 
ruthless  aspersions  of  malice,  and  binds  up  the  bleed- 
ing wounds  of  virtue  fallen  among  thieves.  Like 
the  angel  that  confronted  the  covetous  prophet  in 
the  way  of  the  vineyards,  it  stands  with  drawn 
sword  in  the  sinner's  path  to  hell,  and  seeks  —  but 
often  ineffectually  —  to  turn  him  back  from  his  fatal 
course.  By  furnishing  the  instructions  and  sacra- 
ments of  the  Church  —  God's  means  for  man's  sal- 
vation—  to  those  who  are  perishing  without  them, 
it  confers  upon  them  a  greater  benefit  than  if  it  laid 
at  their  feet  the  material  wealth  of  worlds.  Freely 
it  has  received,  freely  it  gives ;  gives,  not  grudgingly 
or  of  necessity,  but  with  cheerful  heart  and  bounteous 
hand ;  always  ready  to  distribute,  always  willing  to 
communicate ;  carefully  accumulating  that  it  may 
be  able  to  scatter,  and  practising  economy  and  self- 
denial  that  it  may  be  thoroughly  furnished  unto 
every  good  work ;  deliberately  calculating  how  much 
it  can  afford  to  bestow  upon  the  several  objects  which 
solicit  its  aid,  with  wise  discrimination  disbursing  all 
it  can  to  each,  and  wishing  it  had  more  to  disburse. 
And  its  liberality  is  not  the  result  of  sudden  impulse, 
under  the  appeal  of  present  suffering,  or  the  persua- 
sion of  public  eloquence ;  but  a  spontaneous  foun- 
tain within,  a  well  of  living  water  pouring  forth  per- 
petual streams.  Unambitious  in  its  motive,  it  has 
no  affinity  with  the  ostentatious  benevolence  of  a 
heartless  world,  which  aims  only  to  make  a  show, 
acquire  a  name,  and  win  the  applause  of  men. 
Sounding  no  trumpet  beforehand,  nor  afterward 
vaunting  its  noble  deeds,  it  does  its  alms  in  secret, 


84  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

conceals  the  hand  that  confers  the  favor,  and  avoids 
if  possible  impressing  the  beneficiary  with  a  painful 
sense  of  obligation  to  his  benefactor.  Regarding 
the  imperishable  spirit  as  far  more  precious  than  the 
perishing  body,  it  labors  mainly  for  the  welfare  of 
the  world  to  come.  Returning  whence  it  came,  it 
would  take  the  redeemed  race  with  it,  and  enthrone 
humanity  with  its  glorified  Redeemer.  It  instructs, 
rebukes,  exhorts,  with  all  long-suffering  and  doc- 
trine ;  toils  to  waken  the  sleeper,  recover  the  fallen, 
and  shield  the  young  and  inexperienced  from  the 
fiery  shafts  of  temptation  ;  mourns  with  David,  and 
with  the  divine  Son  of  David,  over  those  who  will 
not  return  from  the  error  of  their  ways;  and  by 
every  means  which  God's  good  providence  and  ample 
grace  have  furnished,  saves  men  with  fear,  pulling 
them  out  of  the  fire.  For  this  it  fasts,  and  weeps, 
and  prays ;  for  this  it  thinks  and  speaks,  writes  and 
prints,  lives  and  dies ;  for  this  it  sends  forth  the  mis- 
sionary, co-operates  with  the  clergy  at  home,  strives 
to  give  efficiency  to  the  work  of  the  Church,  lays 
hold  of  every  agency  and  every  facility  to  forward 
its  heavenly  enterprise;  counting  no  sacrifice  too 
great,  no  suffering  too  painful,  no  effort  too  arduous, 
by  which  it. may  possibly  find  the  lost  sheep  and 
bring  back  the  wanderer  to  the  fold ;  pursuing  him 
through  the  drought  of  the  desert,  the  perils  of  the 
forest,  the  miasma  of  the  morass,  the  tempests  of 
the  ocean,  and  the  fires  of  martyrdom;  mightily 
resisting  the  tide  of  moral  evil  which  has  set  in  upon 
the  world,  and  stemming  the  strength  of  creation's 
drift  away  from  the  living  God,  like  some  strong 


CHARITY  BENIGNANT.  85 

swimmer  that  with  broad  breast  and  brawny  arm 
braves  the  force  of  the  flood  and  bears  aside  the 
billow  to  rescue  the  shipwrecked  and  the  perishing. 
St.  Paul  states  the  whole  sum  of  its  impulse  when 
he  says,  "  Charity  is  kind." 

The  kindness  of  Christian  charity  —  "  whereunto 
shall  I  liken  it,  and  with  what  comparison  shall  it  be 
compared  ?  "  It  is  like  the  teeming  cloud,  emptying 
its  copious  blessing  upon  the  thirsty  soil.  It  is  like 
the  swelling  stream,  overflowing  its  banks  to  enrich 
the  plantations  of  the  valley.  It  is  like  the  fruitful 
field,  pouring  its  golden  harvest  into  the  exhausted 
granary.  It  is  like  the  generous  oak,  shaking  the 
genial  dew  from  its  branches  upon  the  humbler 
herbage  at  its  roots.  Nay,  it  is  like  God's  Incar- 
nate Love,  walking  the  sinful  world,  chasing  sorrow 
from  the  abodes  of  men,  shedding  the  light  of  im- 
mortality into  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death, 
and  amidst  the  dissonances  of  human  selfishness 
singing  a  melody  which  charms  the  angels  down 
from  heaven ! 

Endless  are  the  praises  of  charity.  Would  that 
some  drops  of  the  heavenly  dew  were  scattered 
over  this  arid  and  infertile  ground!  Would  that 
the  blessed  influence  might  descend  on  all  our  souls, 
like  the  small  rain  upon  the  tender  herb  and  the 
showers  upon  the  grass !  Then  how  soon  would 
cease  all  bitter  and  unbrotherly  feelings,  all  reproach- 
ful and  calumnious  speeches,  all  unreasonable  preju- 
dice and  disingenuous  behavior !  And  the  heritage 
of  the  Lord  would  flourish  with  all  the  flowers  of 


86  PAULINE  CHAEITY. 

Eden ;  and  believers  in  Jesus  would  seem  a  brother- 
hood of  angels,  eliciting  the  admiration  and  compel- 
ling the  encomiums  of  the  world.  And  what  zeal, 
what  power,  what  enterprise,  what  self-sacrifice, 
would  be  witnessed  in  the  Church!  what  heroic 
feats  of  mercy !  what  new  and  startling  measures  of 
reform !  what  strange  and  unheard-of  endeavors  to 
reclaim  the  erring  and  intractable,  to  barricade  with 
Bibles  and  sermons  and  sacraments  the  teeming  way 
to  destruction,  to  curb  the  headlong  course  of  vicious 
passion,  and  wheel  the  bacchanal's  chariot  hard  on 
the  brink  of  the  unsounded  gulf!  And  the  univer- 
sal prevalence  of  this  divine  principle  would  soon 
exterminate  the  greatest  evils  that  vex  human  soci- 
ety, and  by  the  moral  renovation  of  the  race  would 
convert  the  earth  into  the  counterpart  of  heaven. 
Domestic  feuds  would  cease,  and  religious  contro- 
versies would  expire,  and  political  contentions  would 
disappear,  and  national  animosities  would  pass  away ; 
and  we  should  need  no  foreign  ministries  for  the 
preservation  of  international  harmony,  no  congress 
of  rival  governments  to  settle  war-treaties  and  adjust 
the  perilled  balance  of  power ;  and  our  navies  would 
be  manned  with  missionaries,  and  no  sword  would 
be  drawn  but  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  and  the  last 
monument  of  "man's  inhumanity  to  man"  would  be 
swept  from  the  face  of  the  planet.  Then  the  Divine 
Mercy  would  anticipate  "  the  set  time  to  favor  Zion," 
and  the  noontide  of  gospel  grace  would  break  at 
once  upon  the  midnight  of  the  nations,  and  the 
spirits  of  darkness  that  so  long  have  ruled  the  earth 
would  flee  to  hide  them  in  the  bottomless  pit,  and 


CHARITY  BENIGNANT.  87 

paradise  restored  would  bloom  around  us  with  more 
than  its  pristine  beauty ;  and  over  this  renaissance  of 
the  universe  the  heavenly  host  would  descend  once 
more  with  a  song  so  sweet  that  the  chiming  spheres 
might  pause  to  hear ;  and  all  liappy  creatures,  taking 
up  the  grand  refrain,  would  send  it  tlii^illing  from 
star  to  star,  from  heaven  to  heaven  — "  Glory  to  God 
in  the  highest!   on  earth  peace!   good-will   toward 


88  PAULINE  CHAEITY. 


VII. 

CHARITY  NOT  ENVIOUS. 

Charity  envieth  not.  —  1  Cob.  xiii..  4i 

St.  James  asks  —  "  Do  ye  think  that  the  scripture 
saith  in  vain,  that  the  spirit  that  dwelleth  in  us  lust- 
eth  to  envy  ?  "  whence  we  are  to  learn,  if  I  mistake 
not  the  apostle's  meaning,  that  envy  is  the  offspring 
of  lust,  or  evil  desire ;  and  that  lust,  or  evil  desire, 
is  the  property  of  that  fallen  and  corrupt  nature 
which  we  all  inherit  from  Adam.  Desiring,  and  not 
obtaining,  we  envy  those  who  are  more  successful 
than  ourselves.  Envy  is  malignant  discontent  at 
another's  good  fortune,  and  its  objects  and  occasions 
are  as  numerous  as  the  shades  of  human  character 
and  the  varieties  of  human  condition.  People  are 
envied  for  their  worldly  goods,  their  personal  attrac- 
tions, their  intellectual  endowments,  the  reputation 
they  have  won  by  their  talents,  the  position  they 
occupy  in  society,  the  influence  they  exercise  over 
others,  and  indeed  for  all  sorts  of  superiority  except 
superiority  in  virtue.  For  whatever  else  men  may 
be  envied  for,  for  their  virtue  they  are  never  envied. 
They  may  be  envied  for  the  rewards  of  their  virtue, 
but  not  for  their  virtue  itself.  The  fallen  archangel 
is  represented  in  our  great  English  epic  as  envying 


CHARITY  NOT   ENVIOUS.  89 

onr  first  parents,  not  for  their  innocence  and  purity, 
but  for  the  honor  and  blessedness  which  these  quali- 
ties bring  them,  and  which  he  has  lost  by  his  guilty 
rebellion  against  God.  Envy  is  too  depraved  a  dis- 
position, to  see  the  beauty  of  holiness,  and  to  covet 
it  on  its  own  account ;  but  every  thing  else,  as  Dr. 
South  observes,  "will  make  a  man  to  be  envied, 
which  shall  set  him  above  being  pitied." 

This  base  and  wicked  passion  is  one  of  the  earliest 
developments  of  human  depravity,  and  one  of  the 
last  demons  cast  out  of  the  regenerate  heart.  All 
the  original  passions  of  our  nature  are  in  themselves 
innocent,  and  when  duly  directed  and  regulated  they 
contribute  to  the  good  of  man  and  the  glory  of  God ; 
but  envy  is  a  spirit  of  unmingled  and  unmitigated 
evil,  a  compound  of  selfishness  and  malignity,  utterly 
incompatible  with  the  unfallen  state  of  humanity, 
and  so  unworthy  of  the  sons  of  God  that  one  is  never 
willing  to  acknowledge  himself  actuated  by  so  vile 
an  impulse. 

Often,  however,  it  is  discovered  where  it  is  least 
suspected  —  in  persons  of  polished  manners  and  ami- 
able deportment,  and  apparently  of  the  most  noble 
and  magnanimous  dispositions.  Ah!  could  we  pene- 
trate the  secrets  of  official  and  professional  life,  and  of 
the  several  literary  and  aesthetic  occupations,  where 
we  find  the  highest  culture  and  the  greatest  degree  of 
refinement,  how  often  should  we  discover  the  serpent 
creeping  among  the  fairest  lilies  and  coiled  beneath 
the  sweetest  roses  ?  Of  these  lofty  pursuits,  indeed, 
envy  is  the  ordinary  and  easily  besetting  sin ;  and  if 


90  PAULINE  CHAEITY. 

it  is  to  be  traced  anywhere,  it  is  in  statesmen,  and 
men  of  letters,  and  men  of  science,  and  the  makers 
of  many  books,  and  the  inspired  masters  of  the  pencil 
and  the  chisel,  and  those  who  can  sway  the  grave 
judgment  of  senates  by  lucid  and  persuasive  speech, 
or  soar  heavenward  on  the  wings  of  genius,  charm- 
ino:  all  ears  with  their  melodies. 

Envy  is  everywhere.  It  is  the  moral  epidemic  of 
the  world.  Like  the  spider,  it  weaves  its  snare  alike 
in  the  palace  and  the  cottage,  in  the  halls  of  learning 
and  the  chambers  of  legislation,  in  the  warrior's  tent, 
the  artist's  studio,  the  gay  saloons  of  fashion,  and 
around  the  very  altars  of  God.  The  city  merchant, 
the  rustic  laborer,  and  little  children  in  their  sports, 
are  subject  to  its  baleful  influence.  It  is  the  great 
sectarian  sin,  the  pestilent  schismatic,  that  has  rent 
again  and  again  the  body  of  Christ,  and  lacerated  the 
Redeemer  with  many  a  wound  in  the  house  of  his 
friends.  And  sad  it  is  to  see  how  different  religious 
societies  hate  and  malign  one  another,  what  plans  of 
circumvention  they  employ,  what  unworthy  trickery 
of  perversion,  beguiling  unstable  souls,  compassing 
sea  and  land  to  make  one  proselyte,  lest  they  should 
be  eclipsed  by  the  superior  success  of  their  neigh- 
bors; whence  arise  calumnies,  controversies,  bitter 
contentions,  as  if  they  were  striving  to  furnish  a 
sort  of  gladiatorial  entertainment  for  a  gazing  world. 
And  in  church  choirs  and  Sunday  schools  may  we 
often  discover  the  same  hateful  spirit,  among  sweet 
children,  and  fair  virgins,  and  youthful  saints,  like  a 
toad  in  a  bed  of  tulips,  a  buzzard  in  a  bevy  of  doves, 
a  demon  among  the  adoring  Serapliim.     And  in  our 


CHARITY  NOT  ENVIOUS.  91 

Bible  societies,  missionary  anniversaries,  and  other 
organized  efforts  of  Christian  philanthropy ;  in  con- 
ventions and  conferences,  where  we  discuss  questions 
of  vital  interest  to  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  and  adopt 
measures  for  the  promotion  of  Christianity  at  home 
and  abroad ;  the  fiend  is  sure  to  play  his  part,  mar- 
ring our  noblest  schemes,  and  spoiling  our  best  per- 
formances. And  whenever  the  sons  of  God  assemble 
themselves  together,  Satan  comes  also  among  them, 
setting  brother  at  variance  with  brother,  imbittering 
faction  against  rival  faction,  converting  Christian 
zeal  into  a  kind  of  prize-fight  competition;  and  so 
loving  hearts  are  divided,  and  sacred  terms  are  per- 
verted, and  prudent  counsels  are  defeated,  and  the 
gospel  of  our  salvation  is  dishonored,  and  charity  is 
driven  weeping  out  of  the  world. 

To  see  that  envy  is  utterly  incompatible  with 
charity,  we  need  but  glance  at  some  of  its  character- 
istic qualities  and  fruits. 

Charity  is  disinterested  goodness ;  envy  is  unmin- 
gled  and  unmitigated  selfishness.  It  would  grasp  all 
riches,  absorb  all  enjoyment,  engross  all  admiration 
and  esteem.  Every  superior  and  every  rival  would 
it  destroy,  and  live  alone  in  an  impoverished  or 
depopulated  universe.  Alexander  the  Great,  who 
could  bear  no  greatness  but  his  own,  would  carp  at 
the  valorous  deeds  of  his  captains,  as  if  whatever 
praise  was  bestowed  upon  them  were  taken  from  him- 
self; "a  great  weakness  certainly,"  says  Dr.  South, 
"and  enough  to  make  the  conqueror  as  much  an 
object  of  pity  as  his  conquests  could  be  of  envy." 


92  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

"The  envious  man,"  observes  Bishop  Hall,  "feeds  on 
others'  evils,  and  hath  no  disease  but  his  neighbor's 
welfare."  Such  a  one,  if  rich,  would  have  all  others 
poor ;  if  poor,  would  reduce  the  rich  to  his  own  con- 
dition. If  he  occupies  an  elevated  position,  he  would 
thrust  down  all  aspiring  rivals ;  if  his  station  is  a 
humble  one,  he  would  drag  those  who  have  risen 
above  him  back  to  his  own  level.  Like  Gideon's 
fleece',  he  would  absorb  every  particle  of  moisture 
that  falls  from  heaven,  and  leave  all  around  him 
dewless  as  the  desert. 

Charity  is  the  brotherhood  of  the  heart ;  envy  is 
as  malicious  as  it  i:^  selfish.  Joseph  was  hated  by  his 
brethren  because  he  was  beloved  by  his  father,  and 
they  could  not  speak  peaceably  unto  him  because  he 
had  dreamed  a  dream  which  made  him  their  superior. 
And  Haman  was  full  of  indignation  against  Morde- 
cai  because  he  held  a  high  place  in  the  favor  of  the 
king.  And  the  same  evil  spirit  inflamed  the  wrath  of 
Saul  against  the  victorious  shepherd-boy,  and  made 
him  seek  to  slay  his  own  son-in-law.  The  envious 
man  resents  the  good  of  others,  as  if  it  were  an 
injury  to  himself.  He  hates  you  because  another 
loves  you,  curses  you  because  you  are  blessed  of 
God.  Rather  than  see  you  wafted  along  by  the 
breeze  of  fortune  while  he  lies  becalmed,  he  would 
have  you  shipwrecked  beyond  remedy.  All  who  are 
above  him  he  regards  as  dark  clouds  obscuring  his 
day  and  deserving  his  displeasure.  Envy  is  like  the 
ocean,  which,  because  it  cannot  shine  as  the  firma- 
ment does,  would  shroud  the  starry  lustre  of  the 
latter  with  its  vapory  exhalations.     Nay,  in  order  to 


CHARITY  NOT   ENVIOUS.  93 

enjoy  the  glimmer  of  its  own  rushlight,  it  would  ex- 
tinguish the  sun  and  leave  the  world  in  darkness. 

Charity  is  a  meek  and  gentle  spirit ;  envy  is  as 
outrageous  as  it  is  malicious.  One  of  God's  secre- 
taries tells  us  it  is  "  cruel  as  death  and  insatiable  as 
the  grave."  There  is  in  its  hate  an  inhuman  fierce- 
ness, in  its  action  a  diabolical  fury,  which  respect  no 
dignity,  reverence  no  sanctity,  pause  abashed  at  no 
splendid  array  of  virtue.  What  stirred  up  Satan 
against  the  perfect  man  of  Uz,  and  brought  the  for- 
midable bands  of  the  Sabseans  and  Chaldoeans,  and 
marshalled  the  wrathful  elements  of  nature,  to  do 
such  terrible  execution  upon  the  patriarch,  and  upon 
his  children,  and  upon  ail  that  he  possessed?  what 
but  envy  of  his  large  estate,  vast  revenues,  increas- 
ing honors,  and  flourishing  family,  all  watched  over 
by  the  wakeful  eye  and  protected  by  the  powerful 
hand  of  Him  who  gave  them?  And  what  but  the 
Sclat  of  his  valor  and  the  glory  of  his  achievements 
drew  upon  the  son  of  Jesse  at  once  the  applause  of 
the  kingdom  and  the  murderous  wrath  of  its  mon- 
arch ?  And  why  did  Ziba  accuse  Mephibosheth  to 
his  master?  And  why  did  Ahab  shed  the  blood  of 
Naboth?  Full  well  we  know  the  animus  of  these 
traitors  and  butchers  —  the  fierceness  of  their  hate, 
the  fury  of  their  revenge.  And  was  it  not  by 
the  instigation  of  the  same  cruel  and  ruthless  spirit, 
that  the  noble  and  self-denying  men  of  former  times 

—  illustrious  patriots,  public  benefactors,  servants  of 
the  living  God,  of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy 

—  were  so  often  persecuted,  falsely  accused,  deprived 
of  their  possessions,  chased  from  home  and  country, 


94  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

thrust  into  horrible  dungeons,  subjected  to  lingering 
tortures,  or  hurried  forth  to  a  violent  death  ?  Supe- 
rior worth  was  their  crime,  and  envy  the  execu- 
tioner. And  what  slew  CiEsar,  and  banished  Cicero, 
and  put  out  the  eyes  of  Belisarius,  but  a  merit  too 
great  for  wealth  to  reward  or  envy  to  endure? 
Envy  murdered  Abel  at  his  altar,  and  nailed  the  Son 
of  God  upon  the  cross.  Envy  first  blighted  the 
bloom  of  paradise,  and  breathed  a  curse  over  God's 
fairest  creation ;  and  ever  since  it  has  raged  through 
the  scene  of  its  ruin,  filling  the  earth  with  diie  con- 
fusion, and  wasting  carnage,  and  every  evil  work ; 
and  well  saith  the  wisest  of  ancient  monarchs, 
"  Wrath  is  cruel,  and  anger  is  outrageous,  but  who 
can  stand  before  envy  ?  " 

Charity  is  ready  unto  every  good  work ;  envy  is 
as  mischievous  as  it  is  outrageous.  There  is  no 
injury  it  would  not  inflict  upon  its  happier  neighbor. 
It  would  make  you  an  object  of  shame  and  sorrow 
to  your  friends,  of  mirth  and  mockery  to  your  foes. 
It  would  poison  your  peace  and  blacken  your  fame, 
depriving  you  of  what  is  worth  more  than  mountains 
of  gems  and  gold,  and  sending  you  forth  like  Cain 
—  but  without  his  crime  —  a  hopeless  wanderer 
through  a  blighted  world.  What  is  the  fairest  repu- 
tation, but  a  mirror  reflecting  its  ugliness,  which  its 
foul  breath  therefore  delights  to  sully,  and  its  rude 
hand  is  ready  to  shatter  ?  With  an  angel's  face  and 
an  angel's  voice  it  comes,  to  strike  down  private 
character  and  public  virtue,  array  itself  with  the 
spoils  of  its  victims,  and  feast  and  fatten  on  what  it 
has   destroyed.     While    you    are    quietly   pursuing 


CHARITY  NOT   ENVIOUS.  95 

your  honest  calling  and  suspecting  no  ill  from  any 
quarter,  it  is  treacherously  working  its  mine  under 
your  walls,  kindling  its  fire  in  your  cellar,  dropping 
its  poison  into  your  well,  inflaming  your  enemies  by 
its  falsehoods,  alienating  your  friends  by  its  calum- 
nies, with  a  whispered  suspicion  blasting  your  good 
name,  before  you  are  aware  of  the  tongue  that  hurt 
you  or  the  hand  that  smote  you.  And  who  shall  set 
bounds  to  its  wickedness,  or  limit  its  baleful  power  ? 
Has  it  not  rifled  the  richest  treasuries,  thwarted  the 
shrewdest  policies,  conquered  the  mightiest  warriors, 
and  subverted  the  proudest  thrones?  Naboth  may 
deem  himself  secure  in  the  possession  of  his  vineyard, 
but  envy  shall  never  want  a  Jezebel  to  alter  the  title 
and  take  it  away ;  and  Mordecai  may  sit  daily  at  the 
king's  gate  quite  unsuspicious  of  evil,  but  there  is  a 
wicked  Haman  in  every  court  ready  to  slaughter  a 
whole  race  in  order  to  get  rid  of  a  rival.  If  there  is 
any  exemption  from  the  inflictions  of  envj^  it  is  only 
in  the  case  of  those  who  have  nothing  for  which  they 
can  be  envied,  whose  obscurity  is  their  fortress, 
whose  poverty  is  their  panoply .^  The  tornado  may 
spare  the  willows  in  the  valley,  but  woe  to  the  oaks 
upon  the  mountain  !  The  very  beggar  pines  for  the 
gains  of  his  brother  beggar,  and  dies  of  envy  on  his 
dunghill ;  and  he  who  imagines  himself  by  any  ele- 
vation of  greatness  or  goodness  bej^ond  the  reach  of 
the  fiend,  is  "  like  him  that  lieth  down  to  sleep  upon 
the  top  of  a  mast."  Never  pitying,  never  relenting, 
envy  follows  its  victim  to  the  very  grave,  and  tram- 
ples upon  his  ashes,  and  desecrates  his  memory,  and 

1  Dr.  South. 


96  PAULINE   CHARITY. 

persecutes  his  posterity,  making  his  children  to 
inherit  all  the  vengeance  which  death  —  more  merci- 
ful —  would  not  allow  it  to  inflict  upon  the  father. 

Charity  is  free  from  dissimulation  and  deceit; 
envy  is  as  hypocritical  as  it  is  mischievous.  Pride, 
anger,  gluttony,  drunkenness,  cupidity,  prodigality, 
all  other  vices,  are  ordinarily  frank  and  open  ;  boldly 
avowing  their  names,  abodes,  qualities,  purposes; 
borrowing  no  mask,  assuming  no  disguise,  speaking 
no  language  but  their  own.  But  envy,  conscious 
that  it  is  an  unnatural  disposition,  having  more  the 
rancor  of  a  fiend  than  the  temper  of  a  man,  and 
branded  by  common  consent  with  a  stigma  deep  and 
foul,  disclaims  its  name,  denies  its  nature,  conceals 
its  habitation,  calls  itself  a  love  of  truth,  a  sense  of 
equity,  a  power  of  discrimination,  an  enemy  to  osten- 
tation, a  concern  for  the  public  welfare,  a  regard  for 
the  good  of  the  Church,  a  zeal  for  the  glory  of  the 
gospel,  and  in  one  form  or  another  the  very  charity 
it  would  destroy.  To  borrow  the  sarcasm  of  a 
writer  already  quoted,  "It  is  indeed  a  most  repu- 
table and  orthodox  vice,  a  regular  church-going  sin, 
dressing  like  virtue  and  talking  like  piety.  It  has  a 
great  zeal  for  religion,  a  keen  sense  of  public  justice, 
and  is  much  shocked  at  the  inconsistencies  of  good 
people.  It  exults  when  the  hypocrite  is  unmasked, 
and  exclaims  — '  Ah  !  I  told  you  so  ;  I  always  sus- 
pected him.'  It  is  also  most  benevolent ;  and  when 
adversity  overtakes  a  brother,  prays  devoutly  that  it 
may  be  the  means  of  promoting  his  humility  and 
other  Christian  graces."  ^     What  is  all  this,  but  the 

1  Bishop  Hall. 


CHARITY  NOT  ENVIOUS.  97 

vilest  hypocrisy  of  envy,  concealing  its  malice  under 
a  mask  of  friendship,  disguising  its  devilishness  with 
the  robe  of  an  angel,  and  stabbing  its  victim  through 
the  very  mantle  of  charity  ?  This  despicable  spirit 
professes  to  know  how  rich  you  are  in  the  treasures 
of  which  it  would  rob  you,  and  then  tries  to  sicken 
your  enjoyment  of  them  by  telling  you  how  full  they 
are  of  snares  and  dangers.  It  hates  flattery,  it  loves 
you  too  well  to  flatter  you ;  and  its  constant  warn- 
ing is,  "  Beware  of  pride,  beware  of  vanity,  beware 
of  popular  applause,  beware  of  unholy  ambition, 
suffer  not  yourself  to  be  puffed  up  by  your  prosper- 
ity !  "  Oh  !  but  it  is  the  cant  of  the  traitor,  it  is  the 
song  of  the  siren,  it  is  the  decoy  of  the  fowler,  it  is 
the  false  flag  of  the  pirate,  it  is  the  murderous  sub- 
tlety of  that  old  serpent  the  Devil !  Of  all  the  men- 
tal vices,  of  all  the  evil  passions  that  rule  the  hearts 
of  men,  no  other  is  so  deceitful  as  envy,  no  other  so 
despicable  in  the  measures  which  it  adopts  to  secure 
its  wicked  ends.^  It  will  hire  servants  to  betray 
their  masters,  and  inveigle  one  friend  to  supplant 
another.  It  will  creep  about  under  the  cover  of 
the  night,  watching  at  windows  and  listening  at 
keyholes.  Whenever  it  can  do  so  without  defeating 
its  own  purposes,  it  will  lie  and  calumniate  witli 
the  audacity  of  the  Devil ;  but  generally,  finding 
such  measures  impolitic,  it  coils  adder-like  by  the 
foot-path,  and  snaps  at  the  heel  of  the  passenger. 
Under  the  veil  of  seeming  respect  and  affection,  it 
hides  a  thousand  malicious  devices.  It  hears  you 
commended,  and  joins  with  apparent  cordiality  in 
1  Robert  Hall. 


98  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

tlie  commendation,  and  heightens  it  by  additional 
instances  of  excellent  qualities  and  virtuous  deeds ; 
but  immediately  expresses  a  profound  regret  that  so 
fine  a  character  should  be  marred  by  such  and  such 
faults  and  infirmities  —  faults  and  infirmities  of 
which  all  present  were  utterly  ignorant,  and  igno- 
rant would  still  have  remained,  had  not  its  malicious 
compassion  made  the  reluctant  disclosure,  or  its  well- 
concealed  wickedness  invented  the  contemptible 
slander.  Oh !  its  love  is  that  of  the  father  of  lies, 
its  sanctimonious  sighs  are  blasts  from  hell,  and  its 
message  from  God  is  a  dagger  ! 

Charity  is  fraught  with  divine  peace  and  content- 
ment; envy  is  as  miserable  as  it  is  hypocritical. 
Miserable  it  must  be,  for  guilt  is  always  miserable, 
and  no  other  misery  is  so  much  like  that  of  Satan  as 
the  misery  of  an  envious  spirit.  Hating  and  hated, 
can  it  know  any  thing  of  a  good  conscience  and  a 
cheerful  mind?  Deceitful  and  treacherous,  musit  it 
not  be  like  the  troubled  sea  that  cannot  rest?  Baf- 
fled and  chagrined,  will  it  not  become  desperate,  and 
turn  its  fangs  upon  itself,  and  devour  its  own  vitals  ? 
"  There  is  no  peace,  saith  my  God,  to  the  wicked." 
The  envious  man  makes  himself  wretched  because 
another  is  happy,  casts  himself  down  because  another 
is  lifted  up.  He  is  a  hopeless  Saul,  falling  upon  his 
own  sword  because  he  cannot  thrust  it  through  a 
Philistine ;  an  ill-natured  dog,  losing  his  own  portion 
by  snapping  at  that  of  another.  His  neighbor's  rest 
breaks  his  repose,  and  the  sight  of  his  neighbor's 
paradise  makes  his  own  home  a  hell.  He  consumes 
himself,  and  delights  in  pining,  till  he  seems  no  more 


CHARITY  NOT   ENVIOUS.  99 

a  man,  but  a  lean  and  hungry  carcass  quickened  by 
a  fiend.  The  wine  of  your  cup  is  the  wormwood  of 
his,  and  the  songs  of  love  and  joy  that  ring  out  from 
his  rival's  dwelling  jar  the  chords  of  his  unconge- 
nial nature  like  hoarse  dissonances  of  the  damned. 
"  Envy,"  writes  Bishop  Hall,  "  is  a  source  of  endless 
vexation,  an  instrument  of  self-torture,  a  rottenness 
in  the  bones,  a  burning  ulcer  of  the  soul,  a  crime 
which,  partaking  of  the  guilt,  partakes  as  largely  of 
the  misery  of  hell."  And  it  is  the  more  wretched 
because  it  is  incapable  of  reconciliation.  Its  object 
has  committed  no  offence,  and  can  offer  no  satisfac- 
tion ;  has  inflicted  no  injury,  and  can  make  no  repa- 
ration. The  evil  is  all  in  the  breast  of  the  envious 
person  himself,  therefore  beyond  the  reach  of  any  of 
the  ordinary  remedies  of  society.  The  wound  bleeds 
on  forever  because  there  is  no  balm  for  its  healinsr. 
It  is  the  gnawing  of  a  worm  that  can  never  die,  the 
raging  of  a  fire  tliat  can  never  be  quenched,  the  revel 
of  fiends  in  the  human  heart  whom  no  power  but 
charity  can  expel.  Were  I  required  to  construct 
a  hell  of  absolute  and  most  exquisite  suffering  for 
the  punishment  of  lawless  passion,  I  would  sink  no 
bottomless  pit,  forge  no  everlasting  chain,  make  no 
instruments  of  physical  torture ;  but  I  would  fill  the 
guilty  soul  with  unmingled  and  unmitigated  envy^ 
and  take  away  all  means  and  opportunity  of  wreak- 
ing its  Satanic  hate  upon  any  human  victim,  and 
remove  all  counteractive  agencies,  all  alleviating  in- 
fluences, all  hope  of  reversion  or  remedy,  and  leave 
the  reprobate  spirit  alone  with  its  baffled  lust  for- 
ever.    Were  not  this  a  sufficient  hell  even  for  the 


100  PAULINE  CHAEITY. 

Devil  and  his  angels?  Oh!  who  can  but  pity  the 
man  that  is  under  the  despotism  of  this  cruel  and 
accursed  spirit  —  a  spirit  that  is  essential  enmity  to 
the  God  of  love,  hating  holiness,  quarrelling  with 
Providence,  warring  against  human  welfare,  and 
striving  to  defeat  the  glorious  issues  of  redemption? 
Such  a  one  carries  a  living  hell  in  his  heart ;  and  the 
tyranny  of  this  foul  tormentor,  confirmed  by  invinci- 
ble habit,  must  be  the  immortal  sting  of  the  second 
death,  more  terrible  than  any  outer  darkness,  or  ex- 
ternal torture,  or  surging  lake  of  fire,  or  taunt  and 
fury  of  triumphant  fiends ! 

"  Charity  envieth  not."  Charity  and  envy  are  as 
much  opposed  to  each  other  as  light  and  darkness. 
Charity  is  from  above ;  envy  is  from  beneath.  Char- 
ity is  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit ;  envy  is  the  work  of  the 
flesh.  Charity  is  the  outgrowth  of  the  new  heart; 
envy  is  the  product  of  the  carnal  mind.  Charity  is 
as  pure  as  the  mountain  stream ;  envy  is  as  foul  as 
the  city  sewer.  Charity  is  as  harmless  as  the  gentle 
dove ;  envy  is  as  deadly  as  the  viper's  fang.  Charity 
is  as  tranquil  as  the  summer  evening;  envy  is  as 
restless  as  the  troubled  sea.  Charity  is  as  tender  and 
pitiful  as  an  angel ;  envy  is  as  heartless  and  cruel  as 
a  demon.  Charity  is  the  spirit  of  Christ  and  the 
temper  of  heaven;  envy  is  the  rankling  selfishness 
which  makes  the  immitigable  woe  of  the  lost,  the 
wormwood  and  gall  transfused  through  all  the  facul- 
ties and  feelings  of  a  reprobate  immortality.  No 
two  principles  could  be  more  antagonistic  and  irrec- 
oncilable.    Where  charity  resides,  envy  must  be  a 


CHARITY  NOT   ENVIOUS.  101 

stranger.  Love  cannot  grudge  the  beloved  object 
any  thing  that  he  enjoys.  The  charitable  man 
cannot  be  grieved  at  another's  good,  nor  entertain 
toward  him  any  ill-will  on  account  of  it.  Sooner 
might  life  wed  death,  or  noonday  embrace  midnight. 
Content  with  his  own  lot  and  thankful  for  his  own 
comforts,  such  a  one  is  pleased  with  the  disposition 
which  the  Divine  Providence  has  made  of  its  bounty 
and  blessing  to  all.  He  rejoices  in  his  neighbor's 
welfare  as  if  it  were  his  own.  Joy  and  gladness  flow 
into  his  heart  from  all  the  happy  objects  around  him, 
and  every  blessed  thing  within  the  range  of  his  obser- 
vation becomes  to  him  a  benediction.  Like  the  bread 
and  fish  in  the  hands  of  the  chosen  twelve,  the  good 
is  multiplied  by  distribution ;  and  the  more  there 
are  to  share,  the  larger  the  supply.  If  I  possess  this 
heavenly  principle,  my  interest  is  identified  with  that 
of  my  brother ;  and  the  more  brightly  his  lamp  burns, 
the  more  easily  mine  is  lighted. 

By  the  light  of  charity  we  see  the  evil  of  envy. 
How  hideous  a  thing  it  is  !  how  hateful  to  holy  eyes  ! 
how  unworthy  of  a  rational  and  redeemed  nature ! 
how  inconsistent  in  those  who  profess  a  religion  of 
love  and  look  for  their  reward  in  heaven  !  Ah  !  with 
what  unseemly  rancor  does  it  not  fire  the  hearts  of 
warring  sectaries  and  schismatics,  with  what  deceiv- 
ableness  of  unrighteousness,  what  bitterness  of  con- 
troversy, what  fierceness  of  revenge  I  How  deplorable 
is  this  spirit  in  the  Church  of  Christ,  when  the  tide 
of  partisan  feeling  runs  high,  and  the  contention  of 
noisy  factions  is  like  the  roar  of  conflicting  waves ! 
Oh!  this  is  the  sin  that  dispossessed  the  seraphim, 


102  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

and  fired  the  flaming  gulf!  Born  in  heaven,  but  soon 
cast  down  to  hell,  to  heaven  it  still  aspires,  making 
the  vaults  of  hell  ring  with  the  doleful  clamor  of  its 
discontent.  The  vilest  offspring  of  Satan,  it  inherits 
its  father's  ambition;  and  while  it  spurns  not  the 
lowest  place  nor  scorns  the  meanest  breast,  it  would 
storm  the  celestial  temple,  and  inflame  the  second 
seraph  at  the  altar  with  ill-will  toward  the  first,  and 
make  the  happy  millions  hate  the  God  of  love  be- 
cause they  are  not  higher  than  the  Highest  I  ^ 

And  what  plea  can  the  culprit  make  for  its  auda- 
city ?  How  will  it  vindicate  its  invasion  of  Jehovah's 
rights,  and  its  war  upon  the  welfare  of  his  creatures? 
Other  vices  have  their  palliations ;  but  what  pallia- 
tion can  be  found  for  envy  ?  Anger  pleads  its  prov- 
ocation; but  what  provocation  has  envy,  except 
another's  prosperity?  Intemperance  pleads  an  impe- 
rious appetite ;  but  what  appetite  has  envy,  except 
for  mischief  and  for  misery?  Sensuality  pleads  the 
frequency  of  powerful  temptation ;  but  what  tempta- 
tion has  envy,  except  the  malevolence  of  unmiti- 
gated selfishness  ?  Even  robbery,  burglary,  forgery, 
perjury,  and  murder,  may  plead  their  necessity  and 
their  profits;  but  what  necessity  has  envy,  except 
the  prompting  of  its  own  depravity  ?  and  what  profit, 
except  the  wages  of  unrighteousness  ?  Nay,  it  is  a 
sin  without  defence,  excuse,  or  reason  —  speechless 
as  the  unrobed  intruder  at  the  marriage  feast;  and 
its  portion  must  be  the  outer  darkness,  with  the 
weeping,  and  wailing,  and  gnashing  of  teeth ! 

But  charity,  while  it  reveals  the  evil,  also  suggests 

1  Bishop  Hall. 


CHARITY  NOT  ENVIOUS.  103 

the  remedy.  Charity  is  itself  the  remedy.  To  cure 
envy,  we  have  only  to  acquire  charity.  Envy  is  the 
strong  man  armed,  in  peaceful  possession  of  his  pal- 
ace ;  charity  is  the  stronger,  that  casts  him  out  and 
spoils  his  goods.  Invoke  we  charity,  then,  to  redeem 
our  souls  from  the  baleful  power  of  envy !  And  let 
us  remember  that  charity  is  not  a  human  virtue,  to 
be  developed  and  matured  by  mere  culture ;  but  a 
germ  from  paradise,  implanted  by  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  watered  with  heavenly  dew.  And  let  us  never 
forget  that,  while  we  can  do  nothing  without  this 
divine  agency,  God  is  more  ready  to  grant  the  ines- 
timable gift  to  them  that  ask  him  than  the  best  of 
fathers  to  give  bread  to  his  hungry  children. 

O  Thou  most  mighty  and  most  merciful!  at  thy 
feet,  helpless  and  self-despairing,  we  cast  ourselves 
down,  imploring  thy  all-sufficient  grace  to  renew 
our  sinful  nature,  and  transfuse  our  selfish  hearts 
with  the  power  and  blessedness  of  the  charity  which 
"  envieth  not "  I 


104  PAULINE  CHARITY. 


VIII. 

CHARITY  NOT  PROUD. 

Charity  vaunteth  not  itself.  —  1  Cob.  xiii.  4. 

The  great  intellectual  sin,  which  is  the  parent  of 
many  other  sins,  is  pride.  Pride  is  that  undue  esti- 
mate of  self,  that  exaggerated  opinion  of  one's  own 
virtues  and  advantages,  attainments  and  perform- 
ances, which  makes  him  odious  in  the  eyes  of  God 
and  man.  To  every  enlightened  Christian,  it  must 
be  quite  obvious  at  a  glance,  that  such  a  disposition 
can  have  no  place  in  charity.  For  that  lowliness  of 
mind,  that  poverty  of  spirit,  that  moderate  estimate 
of  our  own  abilities  and  excellences,  which  we  com- 
monly call  humility,  and  which  is  the  very  opposite 
of  pride,  is  set  down  by  the  apostle  as  the  fourth  of 
the  eleven  attributes  of  charity  which  he  here  de- 
scribes.    "  Charity  vaunteth  not  itself." 

To  vaunt  is  to  boast,  to  make  an  ostentatious  dis- 
play, to  express  by  word  or  act  our  good  opinion  of 
our  own  qualities  or  achievements.  Vaunting,  then, 
is  the  language  of  pride ;  and  this  is  the  vice  which 
is  now,  for  the  glory  of  charity,  to  be  sacrificed  at 
the  shrine  of  humility.  A  little  attention  to  the 
nature  and  effects  of  pride  will  be  sufficient  to  show 
its  repugnance  to  charity,  and  a  very  slight  acquaint- 


CHARITY  NOT   PKOUD.  105 

ance  with  charity  itself  will  convince  us  that  it 
cannot  exist  without  humility.  "Love  speaks  no 
vaunts."  1 

Now  pride  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  that 
courtly  demeanor,  that  stateliness  of  bearing,  which 
is  so  natural  to  some  people,  and  so  suitable  to  cer- 
tain ranks  and  conditions  in  society.  This  is  the 
use  of  our  dignity,  not  the  abuse  of  it.  But  pride  is 
an  over-valuing  of  self,  and  its  proper  expression  is 
the  vaunting  of  one's  own  real  or  imagined  good. 
Was  there  ever  a  time  when  this  hateful  vice  was 
more  prevalent  than  it  is  at  present,  or  a  people 
among  whom  it  was  more  ruinously  rife  than  it  is 
among  ourselves?  Does  not  the  age  vaunt  its  en- 
lightenment and  its  progress?  Do  not  the  sects 
vaunt  their  several  distinctive  excellences  of  doctrine 
and  of  discipline  ?  Do  not  persons  of  all  classes  and 
descriptions  vaunt  their  superiority  to  their  neigh- 
bors in  one  respect  or  another?  The  shades  of  hu- 
man character  and  the  conditions  of  human  life  vary 
not  more  than  the  forms  and  manifestations  of  pride, 
for  the  differences  of  the  former  are  the  grounds  and 
occasions  of  the  latter.^  There  is  a  pride  of  birth, 
a  pride  of  wealth,  a  pride  of  power,  a  pride  of  knowl- 
edge, a  pride  of  learning,  a  pride  of  genius,  a  pride 
of  authorship,  a  pride  of  heroism,  a  pride  of  accom- 
plishment, a  pride  of  morality,  and  even  a  pride  of 
humility. 

Into  this  snare  of  Satan  often  fall  the  most  reli- 
gious and  devout,  arrogating  to  themselves  the  spe- 
1  Conybeare  and  Howson.  2  Bossuet. 


106  PAULINE  CHAEITY. 

cial  privileges  of  God's  elect,  and  regarding  all  who 
differ  with  them  in  the  minutest  matters  of  ritual  or 
regimen  as  'ignorant  and  out  of  the  way."  The 
scribes  who  sat  in  the  seat  of  Moses,  and  the  Phari- 
sees who  were  the  strictest  religionists  of  their  da}^ 
occupied  the  highest  places  in  the  synagogue,  and 
looked  with  sanctimonious  scorn  upon  their  humbler 
brethren;  and  the  Jewish  people  in  general,  being 
the  seed  of  Abraham  and  children  of  the  covenant, 
despised  the  Gentile  world  around  them  as  strangers 
and  aliens,  having  no  part  in  the  promised  Messiah, 
no  inheritance  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  So  we, 
who  are  registered  with  the  great  host  of  baptized 
believers  in  Jesus,  are  apt  to  value  ourselves,  on  the 
one  hand,  for  our  primitive  catholic  churchmanship, 
our  lirm  adherence  to  the  canons  and  customs  of  the 
fathers,  and  our  uncompromising  zeal  for  the  faith 
once  delivered  to  the  saints ;  or,  on  the  other  hand, 
for  what  we  deem  our  more  evangelical  principles, 
our  profounder  Christian  experiences,  our  greater 
simplicity  and  spirituality  of  worship,  and  our  free- 
dom from  patristic  traditions  and  mediaeval  corrup- 
tions ;  or,  going  a  little  farther,  for  our  escape  out  of 
the  fetters  of  dogmatic  theology  and  narrow  prejudice, 
into  the  broad  fields  of  free  inquiry  and  independent 
thought,  where  we  may  range  without  restriction, 
every  man  the  author  of  his  own  gospel,  glorying 
in  his  privilege  of  doubt  and  disbelief. 

If  pride  is  the  fault  of  a  novice,  consisting  in  self- 
exaltation,  who  knows  not  where  it  is  to  be  sought? 
If  pride  is  comparing  ourselves  with  others,  and  cast- 
ing the  scale  in  our  own  favor,  who  knows  not  where 


CHARITY   NOT   PROUD.  107 

it  is  to  be  found?  If  pride  is  that  haughty  self- 
complacency,  which  can  see  no  evils  at  home,  and 
will  bear  the  mention  of  none  —  which  gives  lessons 
to  every  one,  and  receives  no  lessons  from  any  — 
which  regards  all  things  according  to  their  bearing 
upon  itself,  and  favors  them  only  as  they  favor  it  — 
which  allows  no  passing  beyond  its  own  condition, 
and  deems  every  thing  higher  than  itself  as  wrong 
and  ruinous  —  then  who  knows  not  its  haunts  and 
its  home,  even  in  the  house  of  God  and  among  his 
consecrated  servants  —  in  those  who  lay  claim  to 
superior  sanctity,  who  are  constantly  vaunting  their 
humility  and  making  their  humility  the  minister  of 
their  pride  ?  ^  But  is  pride  less  hateful  in  itself  and 
in  the  sight  of  Heaven  because  it  assumes  a  spiritual 
character  and  dwells  in  holy  places?  or  is  it  less 
productive  of  strife,  and  contention,  and  every  evil 
work,  because  it  disguises  itself  in  the  white  robe 
of  religion,  and  conceals  its  features  behind  a  well- 
wrought  mask  of  humility  ?  Is  Satan  a  less  danger- 
ous enemy  when  he  comes  in  an  angel's  guise  and 
speaks  with  an  angel's  accent,  deceiving  if  possible 
the  very  elect?  Believe  me,  dear  brethren!  of  all 
the  forms  of  pride,  spiritual  pride  is  the  worst,  the 
most  subtle  work  of  the  Devil  in  the  hearts  of  men ; 
with  the  banner  of  a  sect  or  the  shibboleth  of  a  party 
waging  war  against  the  true  spirit  of  religion,  and 
laying  waste  the  heritage  of  the  Lord. 

And  there  is  a  sort  of  schismatical  vaunting,  a 
pride  which  sets  itself  above  the  one  catholic  and 
apostolic  Church  of  Christ.     A  shrewd  device  of  the 

1  Edward  Irving. 


108  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

old  deceiver  it  is,  to  draw  simple-minded  Christians 
away  from  that  divine  organization  which  God  hath 
constituted  "the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth," 
and  make  them  despise  its  authority  and  its  ordi- 
nances, its  unity  of  faith  and  worship,  its  primitive 
order  and  discipline,  under  the  delusion  that  they 
are  thus  honoring  th^t  spiritual  and  invisible  Church 
which  they  speak  of  as  the  real  body  of  Christ ;  as  if 
one  should  honor  universal  humanity  by  dishonoring 
his  own  mother;  as  if  the  invisible  communion  of 
saints  could  exist  for  ages  without  any  visible  sign 
or  symbol  of  its  existence ;  as  if  Christians  were  to 
be  but  so  many  coins  struck  with  the  same  die,  in- 
stead of  so  many  members  belonging  to  the  same 
body  and  animated  by  the  same  spirit.  Pride  can- 
not brook  superiority,  and  therefore  it  sets  up  its 
own  individual  preference  and  independent  judgment 
against  ancient  precedent,  and  apostolic  authority, 
and  the  consentient  voice  of  ages,  and  discards  the 
ministry  and  the  sacraments  which  Christ  hath  or- 
dained as  the  channels  of  communication  between 
himself  and  his  people  and  the  means  of  spiritual 
edification  to  the  faithful ;  and  I  greatly  err,  if  this 
contempt  for  the  ordinances  of  the  heavenly  Bride- 
groom is  not  the  chief  underlying  and  actuating 
principle  of  the  several  sectarian  and  schismatical 
systems  of  the  evil  times  on  which  we  are  fallen. 
For  why  are  they  shocked  and  offended  —  these 
fanatical  repudiators  of  the  Lord's  Anointed  —  why 
are  they  shocked  and  offended,  when  we  speak  of  the 
Church  as  the  living  body  of  the  Redeemer,  perpetu- 
ating the  divine  incarnation  upon  the  earth?    Why 


CHARITY  NOT   PROUD.  109 

are  they  grieved  and  offended,  when  we  speak  of 
baptism  as  a  real  death  unto  sin  and  a  new  life  unto 
righteousness?  Why  are  they  startled  and  amazed, 
when  we  speak  of  confirmation  as  a  real  strength- 
ening and  establishing  with  heavenly  grace  for  the 
Christian  work  and  warfare  ?  Why  are  they  fright- 
ened or  disgusted,  when  we  speak  of  the  holy  commu- 
nion as  a  real  eating  and  drinking  of  the  sacrificial 
flesh  and  blood  once  offered  for  all,  whereby  we 
become  partakers  of  our  Saviour's  life  and  sharers 
of  his  immortality?  Why  do  they  hold  up  their 
hands  in  horror,  when  we  speak  of  ordination  as  a 
real  endowment  with  spiritual  gifts  for  a  legation 
sublimer  than  that  of  Moses  and  a  priesthood  holier 
than  that  of  Aaron,  "that  the  man  of  God  may 
be  perfect  —  thoroughly  furnished  unto  every  good 
work  "  ?  Is  it  not  the  very  pride  of  Korah,  Dathan 
and  Abiram,  spurning  the  sanctions  and  sacraments 
of  the  new  theocracy,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  upon 
earth  ? 

And  who  requires  any  proof  of  the  repugnance  of 
such  a  spirit  to  the  charity  here  set  forth  by  the 
apostle?  Charity  is  unselfish;  pride  is  one  of  the 
many  forms  of  selfishness.  Charity  concerns  itself 
for  the  good  of  others;  pride  concentrates  all  its 
cares  and  solicitudes  in  self.  Charity  yields  to  its 
neighbor  due  honor  and  respect;  pride  claims  all 
respect  and  honor  for  its  own  dignity.  Charity 
accords  to  every  man  his  proper  place  and  merit; 
pride  aims  to  impress  its  brother  with  a  mortifying 
sense   of  his   inferiority.     Charity  tenderly  regards 


110  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

your  sensibilities,  and  carefully  avoids  giving  you 
offence ;  pride  tramples  upon  all  courtesy,  and  cares 
not  whom  nor  how  deeply  it  wounds.  Charity  sheds 
a  benign  influence  over  the  heart,  expanding  it  to  all 
that  is  noble  and  magnanimous ;  pride  folds  the  soul 
in  upon  itself,  freezing  up  the  genial  springs  of  sym- 
pathy and  affection.  Charity  is  the  spirit  of  those 
who  veil  their  faces  before  the  throne  of  God,  and 
the  temper  of  Him  who  for  our  sake  humbled  him- 
self to  the  death  of  the  cross ;  pride,  is  the  spirit  of 
rebellion  which  of  old,  seeking  to  exalt  itself  against 
the  God  of  love,  plunged  headlong  into  hell.  Char- 
ity knows  something  of  angelic  blessedness,  pervad- 
ing the  scene  of  its  dominion  with  peace  as  of 
paradise,  and  filling  the  heart  in  which  it  dwells 
with  tranquil  joy ;  pride  shares  the  misery  T)f  Satan 
and  his  accursed  confederates,  fraught  with  all  dis- 
quieting and  tormenting  passions,  and  making  this 
redeemed  earth  the  counterpart  of  its  destined  ever- 
lasting home. 

Day  is  not  more  opposed  to  night,  harmony  to  dis- 
cord, purity  to  pollution,  than  charity  is  to  pride. 
The  charitable  man  can  no  more  be  the  proud  man, 
than  good  can  be  evil,  than  truth  can  be  falsehood, 
than  holiness  can  be  sin.  Humility  is  an  essential 
attribute  of  his  charity,  a  fundamental  element  of 
his  character,  pervading  all  his  virtues,  adorning  all 
his  actions,  and  sanctifying  all  his  conversation.  As 
self-love  makes  other  men  set  an  undue  estimate 
upon  their  own  good  qualities  and  despise  those  of 
their  neighbors ;  so  charity  makes  him  appreciate 
highly   his  neighbor's   excellences,   and   think  very 


CHARITY  NOT   PEOUD.  Ill 

little  of  his  owii.^  The  selfish  man  esteems  himself 
better  than  others ;  the  charitable  man  esteems  oth- 
ers better  than  himself.  Love  enables  him  to  per- 
ceive and  admire  in  his  brother,  those  gifts  and 
graces  which  the  pride  of  selfishness  either  overlooks 
or  undervalues.  He  does  not  magnify  himself  at 
the  expense  of  another,  nor  wish  to  shine  by  eclips- 
ing another's  light ;  but  humbles  himself  in  dust  and 
ashes  for  his  manifold  faults  and  infirmities,  and  imi- 
tates the  winged  charity  that  veils  its  radiant  glory 
before  the  sapphire  throne. 

"  Be  clothed  with  humility,"  saith  St.  Peter ;  and 
what  apparel  could  be  more  suitable  for  sinners 
saved  by  grace  alone  and  dependent  for  all  good 
upon  the  blessing  and  bounty  of  Heaven?  "Put  on 
humbleness  of  mind,"  saith  St.  Paul ;  and  what  habit 
more  becoming  to  those  who  walked  so  long  in  the 
shame  of  their  nakedness  and  knew  it  not,  who  are 
still  constrained  to  confess  that  all  their  righteous- 
ness is  as  filth}^  rags  ?  Did  the  wisest  of  men  ever 
write  a  wiser  maxim  than  when  he  penned  the  prov- 
erb — "  It  is  better  to  be  of  an  humble  spirit  with 
the  lowly,  than  to  divide  the  spoil  with  the  proud  "  ? 
Does  not  the  Holy  Book  mention  pride  as  the  first 
of  the  "seven  things  which  the  Lord  hateth,"  and 
speak  of  humility  as  "an  ornament  of  very  great 
price  "  in  his  sight  ?  Is  it  not  written  —  "  He  resist- 
eth  the  proud,  and  giveth  grace  to  the  humble "  ? 
Is  it  not  written  again  —  "  He  that  exalteth  himself 
shall  be  abased,  but  he  that  humble th  himself  shall 
1  Dean  Hook. 


112  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

be  exalted  "  ?  And  hath  not  He  who  dwelleth  "  in 
the  high  and  the  holy  place  "  assured  us  of  his  dwell- 
ing "  with  him  also  that  is  humble  and  of  a  contrite 
heart "  ?  Who  can  read  such  declarations  as  these, 
and  not  be  impressed  with  Jehovah's  strong  repug- 
nance to  pride  and  his  special  delight  in  humility  ? 

The  heathen  wisdom  of  antiquity  deemed  humility 
a  vice  and  pride  a  virtue ;  but  Christ  and  his  in- 
spired servants  make  the  former  one  of  the  fairest 
gems  in  the  Christian  diadem,  while  they  visit  the 
latter  with  the  very  "  condemnation  of  the  Devil." 
What  could  be  sweeter  than  the  encomiums  which 
they  breathe  over  this  amiable  poverty  of  spirit,  or 
more  terrible  than  the  denunciations  which  they  hurl 
at  its  haughty  antagonist?  Having  learned  of  Je- 
sus, the  true  disciple  is  "  meek  and  lowly  in  heart." 
"  He  sitteth  alone  and  keepeth  silence,"  because  he 
hath  borne  the  yoke  of  the  Lord.  He  thinks  moder- 
ately of  his  own  talents  and  attainments,  dwells 
upon  his  defects  more  than  upon  his  perfections,  and 
speaks  oftener  of  his  delinquencies  than  of  his  well- 
doing. Instead  of  being  inflated  with  grand  ideas  of 
his  own  importance  and  usefulness  in  the  Church 
of  Christ,  he  is  painfully  aware  of  his  inferiority  in 
these  respects  to  many  of  his  brethren,  and  of  his 
shortcoming  in  reference  to  the  divine  standard 
erected  for  all.  Instead  of  comparing  himself  with 
others,  and  valuing  himself  highly  for  his  virtues 
and  fine  performances,  he  mourns  before  God  that 
his  religious  character  is  so  imperfect  and  his  life 
so  fruitless  of  good  to  the  souls  of  men.  The  empty 
branch  stands  erect  and  lifts  its  head  on  high,  while 


CHARITY   NOT   PROUD.  113 

its  fruitful  fellow  bends  gracefully  beneath  the  bur- 
den of  its  blessing.! 

Compare  thyself  then,  O  my  brother !  I  will  not 
say  with  the  high  and  holy  One  that  inhabiteth 
eternity,  nor  with  the  stainless  moral  beauty  that 
veils  itself  in  his  presence,  nor  with  the  original  per- 
fection of  unfallen  humanity  in  the  garden  of  its 
probation  —  but  with  the  spirit  and  requirements  of 
that  blessed  Law  Divine  which  is  given  for  thy 
guidance,  the  essence  of  which  is  perfect  purity  and 
perfect  love ;  and  see  if  thou  canst  find  any  ground 
for  pride.  Contemplate  the  dreadful  depths  of  thy 
guilt  and  misery;  count  up  thy  crimes  and  cata- 
logue thy  iniquities ;  look  into  the  darkness  and  cor- 
ruption of  a  naturally  wicked  and  deceitful  heart; 
and  tell  me  what  room  thou  canst  find  for  auHit  but 
self-abasement  and  penitential  shame.  Go  gaze  upon 
the  manger  in  Bethlehem,  muse  in  the  garden  of 
Olivet,  and  kneel  before  the  cross  of  Calvary  ;  go 
see  the  Son  of  God  clothed  with  thy  dishonored 
nature,  agonizing  in  blood  for  thy  salvation,  and 
bowing  himself  to  a  death  the  most  awful  and  igno- 
minious ever  inflicted  upon  the  vilest  criminal ;  and 
then  say  how  pride  can  accord  with  the  spirit  of 
Christianity,  how  vaunting  can  consist  with  that 
charity  which  is  of  Christianity  the  vital  essence 
and  the  royal  crown.^  Ah  me  !  how  this  amazing 
mystery  has  stained  the  pride  of  all  human  glory, 
and  excluded  boasting  forever  from  the  ranks  of  the 
redeemed !     And  how  sweetly  does  the  experience  of 

1  John  Summerfield.  2  Thomas  Raffles. 


114  PAULINE  CHAEITY. 

every  pardoned  soul,  sitting  with  Mary  at  the  Sav- 
iour's feet,  and  loving  much  because  he  hath  much 
forgiven,  respond  to  the  promise  — "  Thou  shalt 
remember,  and  be  confounded,  and  never  open  thy 
mouth  any  more  because  of  thy  shame,  when  I  am 
pacified  toward  thee  for  all  that  thou  hast  done, 
saith  the  Lord  God  "  ! 

Whatever  its  excellence  or  distinction,  its  privi- 
lege or  advantage,  its  reputation  on  earth  or  its  fel- 
lowship with  heaven,  "  Charity  vaunteth  not  itself." 


CHARITY  NOT   VAIN.  115 


IX. 

CHARITY  NOT  VAIN. 

Charity  is  not  puffed  up.  —  1  Cok.  xiii.  4. 

The  Siamese  Twins  seem  to  have  been  two  per- 
fect human  beings,  each  possessing  all  the  functions 
of  life  complete,  though  so  bound  together  that  the 
sundering  of  the  ligament  would  probably  have  been 
fatal  to  both. 

Thus,  pride  and  vanity  are  two  vices  so  closely 
related  that  they  are  seldom  found  apart,  yet  so  dis- 
tinct that  we  ordinarily  have  no  difficulty  in  their 
identification  and  discrimination.  Like  two  plants 
springing  from  the  same  root,  they  are  both  the 
products  of  selfishness,  alike  partaking  of  its  quali- 
ties, but  differing  in  form  and  aspect.  Pride  is  an 
undue  estimate  of  self;  vanity  is  an  inordinate  de- 
sire of  the  esteem  of  others.  The  former  makes  a 
man  odious ;  the  latter  renders  him  ridiculous. 

Charity  is  equally  opposed  to  both.  Humble,  it 
is  opposed  to  pride  ;  modest,  it  is  opposed  to  vanity. 
Humility  and  modesty,  though  as  intimately  related 
to  each  other,  are  as  perfectly  distinct  as  pride  and 
vanity.  Humility  is  opposed  to  pride;  modesty  is 
opposed  to  vanity.  The  former  is  the  iuAvard  feeling 
of  lowliness;   the   latter  is  its  outward  expression. 


116  PAULINE   CHARITY. 

The  one  makes  a  man  sensible  that  he  merits  but 
little ;  the  other  renders  him  moderate  in  his  de- 
mands and  expectations. 1  Both,  therefore,  are  essen- 
tial attributes  of  charity.  Notwithstanding  their 
distinction,  it  is  difficult  to  separate  them ;  for  they 
run  into  each  other,  like  the  blending  of  two  shades 
in  painting,  or  two  tones  in  music. 

Of  humility  we  treated  in  our  last  lecture ;  in  this 
we  have  to  deal  with  modesty. 

Conybeare  and  Howson's  translation  of  the  text 
is  — "  Love  shows  no  vanity  ;  "  and  this,  doubtless, 
is  the  exact  meaning  of  the  original  —  "Charity  is 
not  puffed  up." 

Few  vices,  if  any,  are  more  prevalent  than  vanity. 
Everywhere  we  see  a  disposition  to  make  a  show,  in 
order  to  attract  attention,  excite  admiration,  and 
^  elicit  the  encomiums  of  the  world. 

Men  love  to  display  their  wealth,  their  knowledge, 
their  genius,  their  eloquence,  their  honorable  connec- 
tions, their  official  investiture,  the  power  they  pos- 
sess, the  influence  they  exercise,  or  any  advantage 
whatever  they  may  have  over  others. 

And  authors  court  celebrity,  and  statesmen  seek 
popularity,  and  orators  drink  in  with  eager  delight 
the  adulation  of  the  multitude,  and  men  of  noble 
deeds  and  noble  daring  desire  to  see  their  names 
emblazoned  as  heroes,  patriots,  philanthropists,  and 
public  benefactors. 

And  why  do  the  flaunting  children  of  fashion  and 
society  array  themselves    so    gorgeously  or  so  deli- 

1  Adam  Clarke. 


CHAEITY  NOT   VAIN.  117 

3ately,  and  practise  so  many  ridiculous  airs,  and 
make  such  a  study  of  etiquette,  as  if  the  welfare  of 
the  world  depended  upon  their  personal  decoration, 
or  the  eternal  salvation  of  their  souls  Avere  condi- 
tioned on  their  appearance  and  deportment  in  the 
presence  of  others? 

And  could  we  but  truly  read  their  hearts,  many 
a  blustering  politician,  and  many  a  glorious  military 
chieftain,  and  many  a  zealous  supporter  of  public 
charities,  and  many  an  active  reformer  of  prevalent 
abuses,  and  many  a  liberal  patron  of  worthy  poverty 
or  misfortune,  and  many  a  generous  contributor  to 
the  work  of  the  Church  and  the  illumination  of  the 
world,  would  be  found  to  act  from  no  higher  motive 
than  the  love  of  human  praise. ^ 

But  if  men  are  what  they  pretend  to  be,  what 
they  would  have  us  believe  them  to  be,  why  are  they 
not  satisfied  with  being  it,  and  having  the  testimony 
of  a  good  conscience  and  the  approval  of  Heaven? 
Or,  if  they  must  have  something  more,  what  need  of 
so  much  effort  to  advertise  their  excellent  qualities 
and  secure  from  others  a  proper  estimate  of  their 
most  estimable  selves  ?  "  The  tree  is  known  by  its 
fruit ; "  true  greatness  and  goodness  are  obvious 
enough  to  all  observers;  and  the  proclamation  of 
them  with  so  much  art  and  effort,  as  an  old  author 
has  well  remarked,  is  "no  more  necessary  than  send- 
ing the  bellman  about  the  town  to  inform  the  people 
that  the  sun  is  shining."^ 

Scarcely   anywhere   is   vanity   more    conspicuous 

1  Saurin.  2  Thomas  Adams. 


118  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

than  in  matters  of  religion,  and  here  it  is  the  more 
glaring  because  of  the  incongruity. 

Sect  asserts  its  superiority  to  rival  sect,  and  bids 
loudly  for  the  world's  preference  and  patronage ; 
advertising  itself  by  its  larger  and  costlier  house  of 
worship,  which  perhaps  is  not  yet  paid  for,  and  has 
been  formally  given  to  God  by  those  to  whom  it  did 
not  belong;  or  by  its  more  numerous  congregation 
of  intelligent  and  fashionable  people,  whose  faith  of 
course  is  of  much  less  consequence  than  their 
money,  and  whose  spiritual  state  is  not  half  so 
important  as  their  social  respectability;  or  by  its 
learned  and  eloquent  minister,  more  laborious  and 
successful  than  another,  more  popular  and  influen- 
tial, however  questionable  his  creed,  his  measures, 
the  motive  of  his  zeal,  or  the  authority  of  his  com- 
mission. 

And  even  within  the  enclosure  of  what  we  call  the 
Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church,  parish  loves  to  dis- 
play to  neighboring  parish  its  more  abundant  wealth, 
its  more  artistic  music,  its  more  splendid  ritual,  its 
more  frequent  communion,  its  more  numerous  con- 
firmations, its  more  evangelical  system  of  teaching, 
its  more  manifest  prosperity  in  every  way.  And  in 
our  Sunday-school  labors,  our  missionary  reports  and 
speeches,  and  the  ostentatious  proceedings  of  our 
popular  anniversaries,  how  does  party  strive  to 
eclipse  party,  and  society  magnify  itself  against 
society,  commending  the  zeal  of  its  laborers,  applaud- 
ing the  liberality  of  its  contributors,  and  drowning 
the  praise  of  God  in  the  praises  of  man ! 

Ah  me !  how  are  we  beguiled  by  the  sophistries  of 


CHARITY  NOT   VAIN.  119 

a  selfish  heart !  how  befooled  by  the  pleasing  fancies 
which  mingle  with  our  purest  spiritual  delights  I  how 
betrayed  into  the  hands  of  Satan  by  the  sill}^  self- 
gratulations  so  imperfectly  concealed  in  the  public 
excitements  of  our  ostentatious  philanthropy  and  far- 
trumpeting  zeal !  ^  We  build  a  church,  we  found  a 
Sunday  school,  we  endow  a  foreign  mission,  we  con- 
tribute to  a  Bible  society,  we  furnish  a  refuge  for 
orphanage,  we  pour  our  bounty  into  the  baskets  of 
poverty,  we  provide  a  comfortable  home  for  indigent 
age  and  infirmity,  we  throw  our  sheltering  arms 
around  penitent  vice  to  shield  it  from  the  renewed 
assaults  of  temptation ;  and  we  persuade  ourselves 
that  we  are  thus  doing  something  to  raise  a  fallen 
world  from  its  ruin,  when  we  are  only  rearing  a 
pedestal  ou  which  to  exalt  ourselves.  We  imagine 
that  we  are  lifting  up  the  cross  of  Christ  as  an  ensign 
to  the  nations,  when  we  are  only  climbing  to  the  top 
of  it  that  the  nations  may  see  and  admire  us.  We 
think  we  are  investing  with  some  additional  rays  of 
glory  the  very  throne  of  God,  while  we  are  actually 
displacing  the  universal  Lord  to  seat  ourselves  on 
high.  We  pray  constantly  that  his  way  may  be 
known  upon  earth,  his  saving  health  among  all  na- 
tions ;  but  we  labor  much  more  to  make  known  our 
own  zeal  and  beneficence,  and  the  pure  gold  of 
our  devotion  bears  small  proportion  to  the  blended 
alloy  of  our  vanity .^ 

Do  I  exaggerate  the  matter  with  these  metaphors  ? 
Would  that  I  could  exaggerate  what  indeed  I  can- 

1  R.  W.  Hamilton.  2  South. 


120  PAULINE   CHARITY. 

not  adequately  describe !  For  when  we  make  such 
efforts  to  attract  attention  to  the  good  we  are  doing ; 
when  we  parade  our  offerings  with  such  ostentation 
through  the  press  before  an  admiring  public ;  when 
we  endeavor  to  make  others  talk  of  us  as  a  people  of 
extraordinary  activity  in  every  good  work ;  when  we 
feast  and  fatten  on  human  praise,  or  pine  for  it  more 
than  a  starving  family  for  bread ;  when  we  look  up 
with  eiiYy  to  those  who  have  excelled  us,  and  become 
unhappy  because  we  cannot  be  first  and  foremost  in 
the  race ;  when  we  cast  a  jealous  eye  down  upon 
those  who  are  struggling  up  to  our  own  level,  and 
experience  a  fresh  stimulus  from  the  competition  of 
another  sect,  another  party,  or  another  parish;  when 
we  seek  to  depreciate  the  efforts  of  our  rivals  by  dis- 
dainful epithets,  invidious  comparisons,  imputation 
of  unworthy  motives,  or  any  other  uncharitable  meas- 
ures, while  we  exaggerate  our  own  by  arrogant  and 
unjust  assumptions;  —  then  indeed  do  we  make  the 
gospel  of  Christ  subservient  to  our  own  glory,  and 
desecrate  the  temple  of  God  by  our  self-idolatry,  and 
render  our  contributions  nothing  better  than  a  costly 
sacrifice  to  our  own  vanity,  and  by  our  vanity  prove 
sadly  enough  to  the  world  our  want  of  charity.^ 

These  acts  of  beneficence  are  indeed  to  be  prac- 
tised as  a  religious  duty;  and  when  we  do  them 
according  to  Christ's  direction,  regarding  in  their 
performance  the  will  and  the  glory  of  God,  without 
seeking  to  appear  to  men,  we  make  them  most  reli- 
gious. Our  Lord  requires  us  so  to  let  our  light  shine 
before  men  that  they  may  see  our  good  works  and 

1  Pw  Watson. 


CHARITY  NOT  VAIN.  121 

glorify,  not  ourselves,  but  our  Father  who  is  in 
heaven.  Your  works  of  mercy  cannot  well  be  con- 
cealed from  others,  but  see  that  you  do  them  not  to 
be  seen  of  men ;  and  when  the  act  is  necessarily  pub- 
lic, remember  that  He  who  seeth  in  secret  discerneth 
all  the  hidden  weights  and  springs  that  move  the 
wheels  of  charity.  Though  in  some  cases  you  must 
be  seen  to  do,  yet  in  no  case  do  to  be  seen.  Though 
often  you  will  be  praised  by  men,  yet  never  make 
men's  praise  your  end.  What  is  human  applause 
but  perishing  breath  ?  and  is  not  that  the  hypocrite's 
reward  ?  He  does  the  work ;  but  when  he  comes  to 
look  for  his  reward,  lo  !  he  has  it  already.  He  sought 
to  be  seen,  and  seen  he  was.  He  sought  to  be 
praised,  and  praised  he  was.  He  sought  glory  of 
men,  and  men  glorified  him.  Verily,  he  has  received 
his  reward.  What  further  claim  can  he  make  ?  What 
more  can  he  demand  from  God  ?  ^ 

Charity  endeavors  to  conceal  its  good  works  as  the  \ 
sea  conceals  its  pearls  and  the  earth  its  gold.  It  is  / 
not  the  ambitious  sunflower,  that  lifts  its  gaudy 
head  on  high,  and  expands  its  inodorous  petals  to 
the  broad  light  of  the  noon;  but  the  unobtrusive 
violet,  that  hides  its  delicate  beauty  in  the  bank  of  a 
shady  brook,  and  from  its  green  seclusion  perfumes 
the  dewy  twilight.^  Intent  only  on  doing  good,  it 
cares  nothing  for  the  applause  of  the  world,  and  seeks 
to  build  no  temple  to  its  own  fame.  Aiming  only  at 
blessing  others,  it  is  comparatively  a  small  matter 
whether  it  win  another's  blessing  or  incur  another's 
curse.     It  sends  no  herald  to  announce  its  advent, 

1  Leighton.  2  Stimmerfield. 


122  PAULINE  CHAEITY. 

blows  no  trumpet  to  proclaim  its  purpose,  unfurls 
no  banner  to  catch  the  eye  of  the  world,  saith  to  no 
son  of  Rechab  —  "  Come  with  me  and  see  my  zeal  for 
the  Lord ;  "  but,  like  its  Divine  example,  goes  about 
doing  good,  without  causing  its  voice  to  be  heard  in 
the  street,  or  letting  the  left  hand  know  what  the 
right  hand  doeth;  and  like  those  holy  and  blessed 
creatures  who  minister  to  the  heirs  of  salvation  and 
shed  a  thousand  blessings  from  wings  unseen,  it  con- 
ceals its  beneficent  agency  even  from  its  beneficia- 
ries.^ 

Oh!  had  we  the  charity  of  the  divine  Nazarene, 
how  would  it  bring  down  every  lofty  look,  and  seal 
up  every  arrogant  tongue,  and  lay  us  prostrate  in 
the  dust  with  shame  of  our  best  performances,  pray- 
ing the  great  Heart-searcher  to  forgive  the  iniquity 
of  our  holy  things ;  content  with  our  Master  to  be 
"despised  and  rejected  of  men,"  and  with  his  blessed 
apostles  to  be  "  esteemed  as  the  filth  and  off-scouring 
of  all  things,"  if  we  might  but  have  some  share  with 
him  and  them  in  making  humanity  better  and  bring- 
ing many  sons  to  glory  !  ^ 

King  Hezekiah  lost  his  royal  treasures  by  an  os- 
tentatious dispiay  of  them  to  the  Assyrian  embassy ; 
and  Chrysostom  tells  us  that  virtues,  like  precious 
stones,  must  be  concealed  to  be  kept ;  for  if  we  dis- 
play them  publicly,  we  lose  them ;  and  vain-glory  is 
the  one  thief  that  has  robbed  many  of  their  treasure 
laid  up  in  heaven.  But  this  celestial  visitant  in  the 
abodes  of  men  carries  her  jewels  in  a  safe  casket  — 
hides  them  in  her  own  heart ;  while  she  herself  lies 

1  J.  A.  James.  2  Frederick  Faber. 


CHARITY  NOT   VAEST.  123 

hidden  in  the  secret  place  of  the  Most  High,  and 
abides  secure  under  the  shadow  of  the  Almighty. 

Such,  my  brethren,  is  the  modesty  of  charity  ;  such 
its  opposition  to  the  accursed  spirit  which  first  un- 
seated the  seraphim,  and  sunk  the  bottomless  pit, 
and  kindled  the  unquenchable  fire ;  and  afterward 
poisoned  the  air  of  paradise,  and  blighted  its  fairest 
flowers,  and  drove  forth  the  fallen  pair  to  wander 
through  a  ruined  world;  and  has  ever  since  been 
planting  thorns  and  briers  in  the  path  of  their 
wretched  progeny,  filling  human  life  with  cruel  war- 
fare and  bitter  sorrow,  and  making  our  atmosphere 
everywhere  vocal  with  malediction  and  lamentation 
and  woe. 

May  God  mercifully  save  us  from  this  odious  vice 
and  all  its  baleful  fruits,  by  planting  in  our  hearts 
that  heavenly  grace  which  "  shows  no  vanity  "  !  In- 
flated with  no  vain  notions,  and  making  no  vain  dis- 
plays, may  we  sit  at  the  feet  of  Jesus  and  learn  to  be 
meek  and  lowly  in  heart ;  by  the  beauty  of  a  modest 
demeanor  adorning  the  doctrine  of  God  our  Saviour, 
and  by  the  influence  of  a  quiet  and  unobtrusive  char- 
ity anticipating 

"  The  time  when  sun  and  song  shall  flood  forever 
A  world  renewed  by  Christ "  I 


124  PAULIKE  CHAKITY. 


CHARITY    NOT    UNCOURTEOUS. 

Charity  doth  not  behave  itself  unseemly.  —  1  Cob.  xiii.  5. 

On  the  last  two  Sunday  evenings  we  discounted 
of  humility  and  modesty.  These  qualities  imply  a 
chastened  and  subdued  condition  of  the  feelings, 
which  cannot  fail  to  refine  and  polish  the  manners, 
correcting  those  faults  which  are  so  offensive  to  good 
taste  and  good  breeding,  and  producing  that  genuine 
politeness  and  propriety  of  deportment  which  distin- 
guish from  mere  pretenders  the  true  gentleman  and 
the  perfect  lady.  Humility  and  modesty  are  the 
wedded  parents ;  courtesy  is  their  legitimate  off- 
spring; and  the  three  are  not  more  nearly  related 
to  one  another  than  they  all  are  related  to  charity. 
Neither  proud  nor  vain,  "Charity  doth  not  behave 
itself  unseemly." 

For  the  Authorized  Version,  Conybeare  and  How- 
son  read  —  "Love  is  never  uncourteous."  In  both 
renderings,  the  meaning  is  much  the  same ;  and  the 
quality  thus  described  is  what  we  call  courtesy  or 
urbanity  —  the  sixth  attribute  of  charity. 

In  a  general  summary  of  social  virtues,  St.  Peter 
mentions  unity,  sympathy,  compassion,  brotlierly 
love,  and  that  meekness  which  forgives  injuries  and 


CHARITY  NOT   UNCOUPvTEOUS.  125 

renders  good  for  evil ;  inserting  courtesy,  as  no  less 
important  than  the  rest,  in  the  midst  of  the  cat- 
alogue. 

Of  unseemly  or  uncourteous  behavior  there  are 
many  varieties,  alike  the  fruit  of  selfishness,  and 
equally  alien  to  the  spirit  of  Pauline  charity,  which 
is  the  most  effectual  conservator  of  good  manners. 

There  is  a  forward  and  officious  behavior  which  is 
unseemly ;  but  charity  is  not  forward  and  officious. 
She  keeps  within  her  own  sphere,  and  never  meddles 
with  matters  beyond  her  province.  It  is  not  charity 
that  makes  men  obtrusive  and  troublesome,  "  busy- 
bodies  in  other  men's  matters ; "  but  pride  and  van- 
ity, which  are  the  very  opposite  of  charity.  It  is 
not  charity  that  thrusts  women  into  the  pulpit,  the 
political  arena,  the  professions  of  medicine  and  law, 
and  prompts  their  aspirations  for  public  office ;  and  a 
little  of  the  characteristic  humility  and  modesty  of 
charity  would  make  all  sensible  women  revolt  at 
such  outrages  upon  decent  custom  and  the  manifest 
order  of  nature. 

There  is  an  uncivil  and  disrespectful  behavior 
which  is  equally  unseemly;  but  charity  is  not  un- 
civil and  disrespectful.  Who  has  not  met  with  those 
who  affect  "what  they  call  an  honest  bluntness  of 
manner,  who  feel  themselves  above  all  the  conven- 
tional forms  of  propriety,  and  care  not  how  many 
they  disgust  by  their  brusquery?  What  could  be 
more  opposed  to  that  gentle  and  loving  spirit,  which 
considers  the  tastes  and  customs  of  society,  and  re- 


126  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

strains  from  all  that  is  offensive  to  the  best  culture  ? 
Dr.  Clarke,  in  his  comments  on  tliis  chapter,  has  well 
said,  that  no  ill-bred  or  unmannerly  person  can  be 
a  Christian,  that  a  boorish  and  brutish  behavior  is 
the  very  opposite  of  Christianity.  If  charity  is  an 
element  of  Christianity,  no  Christian  can  claim  an 
exemption  from  the  canons  of  decorum  and  pro- 
priety. Every  disciple  of  Christ  is  required  to  please 
his  neighbor  for  his  good  to  edification.  Christian 
love  produces  the  most  genuine  politeness,  and  the 
best  Christian  is  the  most  perfect  gentleman  or  lady. 

There  is  an  invidious  emulation  and  ambition 
which  is  not  less  unseemly ;  but  such  behavior  also 
charity  carefully  avoids.  Content  with  her  own 
position,  caring  little  for  the  honors  of  the  world, 
seeking  for  herself  no  high-sounding  titles,  not  loving 
salutations  in  the  market-place,  nor  aspiring  to  the 
loftiest  seat  in  the  synagogue,  she  practically  heeds 
the  words  of  her  divine  Master  and  Pattern:  — 
"Whosoever  will  be  great  among  you,  let  him  be 
your  minister ;  and  whosoever  will  be  chief,  let  him 
be  your  servant."  The  lust  of  power  and  pre-emi- 
nence is  one  of  the  worst  passions  of  the  human 
heart,  being  the  very  essence  of  the  selfish  principle ; 
often  as  unjust  as  it  is  ungentle,  and  as  cruel  as  it  is 
unscrupulous;  spurning  every  tender  feeling,  tram- 
pling upon  every  human  interest,  and  doing  despite 
to  every  divine  obligation.^  Why  did  Diotrophes 
cast  his  worthier  brethren  out  of  the  church,  and 
prate  even  against  the  apostles  with  bitter  words? 

1  F.  W.  Eobertson. 


CHABITY  NOT   UNCOURTEOtJS.  127 

Simply  because  he  loved  to  Lave  the  pre-eminence. 
See  the  same  accursed  ambition,  and  its  terrible  pun- 
ishment, in  the  case  of  Korah,  Dathan,  and  Abiram. 
With  such  a  spirit,  charity  can  have  no  communion. 

There  is  a  noisy  and  blustering  ostentation  which 
is  altogether  unseemly ;  but  such  behavior  must  be 
confessed  irreconcilable  with  charity.  Nothing  is 
farther  from  this  heavenly  virtue  than  an  intentional 
display  of  one's  fair  qualities  and  good  works.  If 
gifted  with  eloquence  or  artistic  genius,  she  exhibits 
no  anxiety  to  impress  the  world  with  the  superiority 
of  her' endowments.  If  amply  furnished  with  knowl- 
edge and  accomplished  by  the  highest  culture,  she 
makes  no  effort  to  parade  before  the  public  her  intel- 
lectual advantages,  her  literary  and  scientific  attain- 
ments, or  her  distinction  in  the  sesthetic  arts.  If  she 
achieves  any  thing  for  the  Church  of  Christ,  or  the 
improvement  of  humanity,  she  is  influenced  by  no 
desire  to  be  observed  and  applauded  of  men,  but  is 
content  with  the  conscious  approval  of  her  Father 
who  seeth  in  secret.  If  she  has  soared  to  unusual 
altitudes  of  faith  and  joy,  or  cast  her  spiritual  sound- 
ing-line into  the  deep  things  of  God,  she  does  not 
labor  to  make  it  known  in  order  to  set  the  world 
a-stare,  nor  affect  eminent  saintship  for  the  sake  of 
admiration  and  honor ;  but  still  owns,  with  him  who 
was  not  a  whit  behind  the  very  chiefest  of  the  apos- 
tles, "  I  am  less  than  the  least  of  all  saints." 

There  is  an  arrogant  and  supercilious  deportment 
which  must  be  branded  as  unseemly;   but  charity, 


128  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

minding  not  high  things,  condescends  to  men  of  low 
estate.  The  disciple  of  the  lowly  Man  of  Nazareth 
does  not  deem  himself  the  best  and  greatest  in  the 
community,  affecting  the  strut  of  a  captain,  or  the 
dignity  of  a  monarch,  and  claiming  uncommon  defer- 
ence for  his  judgment  and  his  counsel.  He  is  not 
always  seeking  to  make  a  display  of  his  superiority, 
and  force  all  others  to  feel  themselves  inferior ;  nor 
is  there  any  offensive  exhibition  of  his  own  conse- 
quence, regardless  of  the  rights,  the  opinions,  and 
the  sensibilities  of  his  brethren.  If  conscious  of 
greater  mental  resources,  he  is  tenderly  careful  that 
others  in  his  presence  shall  not  feel  a  painful  sense 
of  their  intellectual  poverty.  Without  desiring  to 
sacrifice  his  own  proper  position,  or  destroy  the  just 
distinctions  of  social  life  by  reducing  all  to  a  common 
level,  he  conceals  his  rank,  his  office,  his  dignity,  his 
authority,  so  far  as  duty  will  permit,  and  unites  his 
advantages  with  such  affability  and  gentleness  as 
shall  render  them  attractive  to  all.  The  honest  say- 
ings and  doings  of  his  humbler  neighbors  he  never 
treats  with  ridicule,  nor  looks  down  with  mingled 
pity  and  contempt  upon  men  of  a  lower  sphere  or 
minds  of  a  narrower  range.  Such  conduct  were  as 
discourteous  as  it  would  be  uncharitable. 

Among  the  most  unseemly  attributes  of  selfishness 
is  an  obstinate  and  imperious  will;  but  there  is 
nothing  more  averse  than  this  to  the  manner  and 
mien  of  charity.  Some  people  are  always  setting 
up  their  own  judgment  as  the  standard,  and  their 
own  decision  as  the  law ;  insisting  that  every  thing 


CHAEITY  NOT  UNCOUETEOUS.  129 

shall  go  according  to  their  own  preference  or  pro- 
posal; bent  on  carrying  their  own  point,  whatever 
the  consequences ;  determined  that  all  shall  be  done 
to  suit  themselves,  or  nothing  shall  be  done  at  all ; 
and  if  other  measures  are  adopted  without  their 
consent  and  approval,  and  any  thing  great  or  good 
results  from  the  effort,  they  seek  to  annoy  and 
injure  the  successful  party ;  as  if  they  were  the  con- 
stituted oracles  of  wisdom  and  justice,  and  heaven 
and  earth  were  obliged  to  submit  to  their  sway.  On 
the  contrary,  he  who  is  under  the  blessed  influence 
of  Christian  charity  yields  gracefully  to  the  opin- 
ions and  preferences  of  his  brethren,  except  where 
such  compliance  involves  some  dereliction  of  truth 
and  duty.  In  matters  of  truth  and  duty,  indeed, 
charity  shows  the  stability  of  adamant,  and  the 
integrity  of  tempered  steel.  Where  the  law  of  God 
says,  "  Be  steadfast  and  unmovable  "  —  where  the 
welfare  of  the  universe  requires  a  firm  and  unflinch- 
ing course  —  there  charity  can  make  no  compromise 
—  must  go  forward,  though  it  be  to  the  dungeon,  or 
through  the  fire.  But  in  matters  of  smaller  moment 
or  mere  private  interest,  she  is  gentle  toward  all, 
easy  to  be  entreated,  doing  nothing  through  strife  or 
vain  glory,  every  man  esteeming  others  better  than 
himself ;  and  if  they  are  unreasonable  and  self-willed, 
showing  only  the  sweeter  compliance  and  condescen- 


In  our  intercourse  with  the  world  we  must  often 
have  witnessed  an  unseemly  self-confidence  and  self- 
1  Jonathan  Edwards. 


130  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

reliance ;  but  this  is  to  charity  what  night  is  to  day, 
poison  to  wholesome  food,  and  Satan  to  angelic  pu- 
rity. Charity  looks  to  a  higher  wisdom  for  guidance 
and  a  higher  power  for  strength ;  and  feels  itself,  in 
the  presence  of  God,  as  less  than  nothing  and  vanity. 
The  man  of  charity  is  always  the  man  of  humility, 
sensible  of  his  infirmities  and  delinquencies,  with 
ingenuous  shame  and  sorrow  acknowledging  his  in- 
numerable errors,  and  exclaiming  with  the  patriarch 
—  "I  am  not  worthy  of  the  least  of  all  the  mercy 
and  truth  Thou  hast  shown  unto  thy  servant."  He 
contrasts  his  own  vileness  with  that  Infinite  Purity 
in  whose  sight  the  heavens  are  not  clean ;  and  with 
Job,  abhors  himself,  and  repents  in  dust  and  ashes ; 
or  with  Isaiah,  when  he  beheld  the  glory  of  the 
Lord,  cries  out  —  "  Woe  is  me  !  for  I  am  undone,  for 
I  am  a  man  of  unclean  lips,  and  I  dwell  in  the  midst 
of  a  people  of  unclean  lips,  for  mine  eyes  have  seen 
the  King,  the  Lord  of  hosts ! "  If  providentially 
afflicted,  he  confesses  that  he  deserves  more  than  he 
suffers,  and  commits  himself  without  murmuring 
into  the  hands  of  a  faithful  Creator.  If  admonished 
or  reproved,  he  says  —  "  Let  the  righteous  smite  me, 
it  shall  be  a  kindness ;  and  let  him  rebuke  me,  it 
shall  be  an  excellent  oil  which  shall  not  break  my 
head."  True  charity  knows  nothing  of  that  lordly 
self-reliance  and  self-confidence  so  much  valued  in 
the  world's  policy  and  lauded  by  the  infidel  philoso- 
phy of  the  age. 

And  have  we  not  frequently  me-t  with  an  unseem- 
ly haste  and  impetuosity  of  spirit,  which  it  is  the 


CHARITY  NOT  UNCOUKTEOUS.  131 

tendency  of  charity  to  moderate,  and  one  of  its  chief 
offices  to  control  ?  Naturally  inclined  to  evil  as  we 
are,  and  disinclined  to  good,  a  quick  temper  is  to  be 
greatly  guarded,  and  all  precipitate  action  carefully 
avoided.  How  often,  from  this  very  infirmity,  did 
St.  Peter  subject  himself  to  mortifying  rebuke  and 
bitter  sorrow !  and  how  sternly  did  our  Saviour 
chide  the  same  spirit  in  those  who  would  have  called 
down  vengeance  from  heaven  upon  his  enemies !  and 
what  an  excellent  lesson  of  unruffled  dignity  did  he 
give  his  disciples,  when  he  was  assailed  by  the  vio- 
lence of  the  populace,  or  by  the  insidious  malice  of 
the  wily  scribes  and  Pharisees !  "  First  thoughts," 
says  a  great  Scotchman,  "  are,  like  the  scum  of  any 
mixture,  fullest  of  impurities,  especially  in  minds  of 
an  unquiet  temper ;  and  all  such  particularly  should 
be  on  their  guard,  not  to  speak  or  act  on  the  spur  of 
the  moment."  ^  Do  we  not  all  know  that  fear,  tem- 
per, evil  passion,  and  personal  worldly  interest,  are 
the  things  in  a  man  most  readily  roused  by  any 
provocation?  But  the  worst  possible  counsellors 
are  these ;  for  fear  magnifies  a  matter  out  of  all  pro- 
portion; temper  agitates  the  mind,  and  disqualifies 
for  calm  consideration ;  evil  passion  either  infatuates 
beyond  all  control  of  reason,  or  infuriates  beyond 
all  restraint  of  prudence ;  while  personal  worldly 
interest  blinds  the  eye  of  faith,  and  casts  a  dark 
eclipse  over  things  spiritual  and  eternal,  weakening 
the  consciousness  of  moral  obligation,  and  divesting 
the  law  of  God  of  its  sublimest  sanctions.  By  none 
of  these,  therefore,  will  Charity  consent  to  be  gov- 

1  Edward  Irving. 


132  PAULINE  CHAKITY. 

erned ;  but  sitting  like  a  judge  above  the  confusion 
of  contending  lawyers  and  clients,  she  consults  her 
associates  —  Truth,  Justice,  Equity,  —  and  looks  into 
the  royal  law,  and  invokes  the  counsel  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  who  for  his  quietness  is  likened  to  the  gentle 
dove.i  Full  of  that  mild  and  peaceable  wisdom 
which  is  from  above,  she  clothes  her  rebukes  with 
softest  words  and  utters  them  in  sweetest  tones, 
mingling  honey  with  the  wormwood,-  and  training 
her  tongue  to  the  law  of  kindness. 

And  is  there  not  sometimes  an  unseemly  incon- 
sistency and  incongruity  of  deportment,  a  want  of 
harmony  between  the  manners  and  the  profession 
of  the  Christian,  which  is  quite  foreign  to  the  spirit 
of  charity,  and  utterly  incompatible  with  her  gra- 
cious sway?  Charity  in  the  heart  is  the  temper 
of  Christ.  Charity  in  the  action  is  the  imitation  of 
Christ.  Charity  in  the  character  is  Christ's  unmis- 
takable image.  As  Christians,  we  profess  to  have 
put  on  Christ,  and  to  have  become  his  followers. 
What  is  it,  then,  to  conduct  ourselves  in  a  manner 
suiting  such  profession?  What  ought  that  man  to 
be  who  professes  to  furnish  to  the  world  a  living 
miniature  likeness  of  the  Incarnate  Perfection? 
Verily,  he  should  be  harmless  and  blameless,  holy 
in  all  manner  of  conversation,  a  specimen  of  all  that 
is  pure,  true,  faithful,  generous,  compassionate,  and 
disinterested.  This  is  what  the  gospel  requires  and 
the  world  demands  of  all  who  have  been  baptized 
into  the  life  of  Christ.     Our  profession  is  the  meas- 

1  Chrysostom. 


CHAEITY  NOT  UNCOUETEOUS.  133 

Tire  of  the  world's  expectation,  and  the  least  devia- 
tion from  rectitude  is  apparent  in  those  who  proclaim 
themselves  the  disciples  of  Htm  who  did  no  evil  and 
knew  no  guile.  Followers  of  such  a  leader,  we  can- 
not escape  the  scrutiny  and  animadversions  of  man- 
kind. In  so  clear  a  light,  the  slightest  faults  are 
perceptible.  On  so  fair  a  ground,  the  faintest  stains 
are  conspicuous.  At  so  lofty  an  elevation,  whatever 
is  disproportionate  or  incongruous  stands  out  to 
public  observation.  Failings  which  might  escape 
detection  in  others,  cannot  be  concealed  in  those 
who  wear  the  badge  of  Christ.  Of  immense  impor- 
tance it  is,  therefore,  that  we  maintain  a  consistent 
character  by  living  an  exemplary  life.  Otherwise, 
our  good  will  be  evil  spoken  of,  the  Christian  name 
will  be  dishonored,  the  noblest  virtues  will  be  dis- 
credited, the  faithful  stigmatized  as  hypocrites,  the 
Church  subjected  to  unmerited  obloquy,  the  gospel 
blasphemed,  sinners  hardened,  and  souls  undone.^  A 
holy  life,  therefore,  is  the  part  of  Christian  urbanity ; 
and  charity  pursues  whatsoever  things  are  pure, 
true,  honest,  lovely,  honorable,  or  of  good  report; 
and  all  that  is  opposed  to  these  in  the  deportment 
of  such  as  profess  the  fellowship  of  saints  and  fre- 
quent the  altars  of  God,  is  a  violation  of  that  charity 
which  is  of  the  very  essence  of  their  religion. 

Finally,  charity  manifests  always  a  suitable  regard 
for  the  various  relations  and  reasonable  convention- 
alities of  social  life,  practical  indifference  to  which  is 
far  from  being  one  of  the  least  unseemly  things  in  a 
1  F.  W.  Robertson. 


134  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

Christian  man's  behavior.  United  in  the  Church,  as 
are  the  several  members  and  organs  in  the  body,  no 
one  can  be  removed  from  his  proper  place  or  sphere 
without  occasioning  uneasiness  and  inconvenience  to 
the  rest.  Charity  preserves  all  in  their  just  connec- 
tions and  dependences,  and  so  promotes  the  harmony 
and  well-being  of  the  whole .^  Thus  also  in  the  mani- 
fold relations  of  civil  society,  charity  renders  to  all 
their  due  —  "  tribute  to  whom  tribute  is  due,  custom 
to  whom  custom,  honor  to  whom  honor,  fear  to  whom 
fear."  In  parents,  teachers,  masters,  and  governors, 
it  is  neither  tyrannical  nor  too  indulgent ;  while  in 
children,  pupils,  servants,  and  subordinates,  it  is 
docile,  dutiful  and  deferential.  In  the  aged,  it  is 
sober  without  sourness,  and  serious  without  severity ; 
while  in  the  young,  it  avoids  all  unbecoming  obtru- 
siveness,  and  all  offensive  pertinacity.  In  every 
superior  position,  it  maintains  a  dignified  affability, 
connected  with  a  gracious  condescension;  while  in 
every  inferior  relation,  it  suppresses  presumption, 
irreverence,  and  indecorous  familiarity.  Under  its 
benign  influence,  the  clergj^man  will  be  meek,  gentle, 
tender-hearted,  apt  to  instruct,  faithful  in  reproof, 
and  watchful  over  the  interests  of  his  flock;  while 
the  people  will  obey  those  who  have  the  rule  over 
them  and  admonish  them,  esteeming  them  very 
highly  in  love  for  their  work's  sake,  and  preserving 
peace  among  themselves.^  At  once  softened  and 
ennobled  by  its  power,  man  will  observe  toward 
woman  all  appropriate  gentleness  and  affection, 
without  either  abdicating  to  her  the  throne  which 

1  F.  Faber.  2  j.  w.  Fletcher. 


CHAEITr   NOT   UN  COURTEOUS.  135 

the  Creator  hath  assigned  to  him,  or  reducing  the 
fair  dependent  to  the  condition  of  a  crouching  menial 
at  his  feet ;  while  woman  will  be  content  with  her 
proper  place  in  the  domestic  economy  and  the  social 
circle,  seeking  by  no  bold  obtrusiveness  to  attract 
attention  and  admiration,  and  making  herself  a  thou- 
sand times  more  interesting  by  her  modesty  than  she 
could  ever  become  by  the  greatest  gifts  of  intellect 
or  eloquence. 

Such,  dear  brethren,  is  the  beautiful  urbanity  of 
this  royal  grace.  In  proportion  as  men  are  charita- 
ble, they  will  be  gentle,  genial,  courteous,  generous, 
obliging,  amiable,  and  inoffensive.  The  mind  will 
infallibly  stamp  itself  upon  the  manners;  and  the 
heavenly  principle,  seated  in  the  heart, 

"  Will  speak  and  sparkle  in  the  eye, 
And  vibrate  on  the  tongue," 

and  shape  the  life  to  virtue,  and  issue  in  all  that 
is  worthy  of  a  redeemed  and  regenerate  nature. 
Suavity  without  sycophancy,  compliance  without 
duplicity,  politeness  without  hypocrisy,  amenity 
without  servility,  generosity  without  prodigality, 
magnanimity  without  mdifference  to  moral  distinc- 
tions—  all  that  is  exemplary  in  Christian  practice, 
attractive  in  the  highest  culture,  and  becoming  in 
the  best  society  —  whatever  can  adorn  character  and 
elevate  the  soul  —  is  comprehended  in  the  quality  of 
which  we  discourse.  Where  charity  reigns,  there 
cluster  the  graces  like  angels ;  and  to  make  us  per* 
feet  men,  we  want  but  perfect  charity .^ 
1  Robert  Newton. 


136  PAULINE  CHAKITY. 


XI. 

CHARITY   NOT   SELFISH. 

Charity  seeketh  not  her  own.  — 1  Cor.  xiii.  5. 

The  divine  Author  of  Christianity  announced 
many  a  truth,  enjoined  many  a  duty,  quite  new  and 
strange  to  those  who  heard  him ;  and  the  startling 
novelty  of  some  of  his  doctrines,  and  the  natural 
repugnance  of  an  evil  heart  to  the  purity  of  his 
precepts,  were  sufficient  to  rouse  all  their  latent  ani- 
mosity and  marshal  them  in  fierce  hostility  to  his 
teaching.  When  he  required  in  his  disciples  a  love 
of  enemies,  a  forgiveness  of  injuries,  a  requital  of 
unkindness  with  good  offices,  a  disinterested  devo- 
tion to  the  welfare  of  others,  an  absolute  renun- 
ciation and  sacrifice  of  self  for  their  salvation,  he 
inculcated  a  benevolence  such  as  no  Jewish  rabbi 
had  ever  named,  and  no  heathen  sage  had  ever 
dreamed  of  as  possible. 

So  when  St.  Paul  wrote  that  he  sought  not  his 
own  profit,  but  the  profit  of  many,  that  they  might 
be  saved  —  that  he  could  even  wish  himself  accursed 
from  Christ,  for  the  benefit  of  his  brethren,  the  sal- 
vation of  his  kinsmen  according  to  the  flesh  —  he  set 
down  a  declaration  never  equalled  by  any  utterance 
of  Socrates   or  Plato,  by  any  theory  of  Cicero  or 


CHARITY  NOT   SELFISH.  137 

Seneca,  by  any  hypothesis  of  Zoroaster  or  Sakya 
Mouni,  by  any  speculation  of  the  most  renowned 
moral  teachers  of  antiquity. 

This  sublime  unselfishness,  this  self-abnegating  and 
self-annihilating  beneficence,  is  the  seventh  feature  in 
the  apostle's  vivid  portraiture  of  the  queen  of  graces. 
"  Charity  seeketh  not  her  own ; "  or,  according  to 
Conybeare  and  Howson,  "  Love  is  never  selfish." 

Some  things  are  best  seen  in  the  light  of  contrast ; 
and,  that  we  may  the  better  appi^eciate  this  beautiful 
attribute,  we  will  look  at  the  opposite  principle  so 
often  displayed  in  human  life  and  character. 

St.  Paul,  in  his  Second  Epistle  to  Timothy,  has 
recorded  it  as  one  of  the  darkest  features  of  the 
perilous  times  which  are  to  come  in  the  last  days  of 
the  current  dispensation,  that  "  men  shall  be  lovers 
of  their  own  selves."  He  manifestly  intends  to  con- 
vey the  idea,  that  self-love  shall  be  the  predominant 
affection,  the  controlling  impulse  of  the  world. 

Whether  this  woful  indication  of  the  end  is  not 
already  widely  prevalent  among  us,  dear  brethren, 
judge  ye.  When  was  the  love  of  self,  in  all  its 
various  phases,  with  all  its  evil  fruits,  more  rife 
throughout  the  several  ranks  of  society  than  it  is 
to-day?  Do  we  not  see  it  everywhere,  in  commer- 
cial life,  in  political  life,  in  professional  life,  in  the 
higher  walks  of  genius,  in  the  pursuits  of  science 
and  literature,  in  legislative  halls  and  senate  cham- 
bers, in  plebeian  cottages  and  patrician  palaces,  at 
the  head  of  the  army  and  on  the  imperial  throne, 
among  the  most  enlightened  as  well  as  the  most  igno- 


138  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

rant,  the  most  cultivated  as  well  as  the  most  bar- 
barous, the  most  virtuous  and  devout  as  well  as  the 
most  profligate  and  degraded?  Human  nature,  we 
call  it;  but  it  is  not  human  nature  in  its  normal 
state ;  it  is  human  nature  apostate,  perverted  and 
ruined.  It  is  the  noble  vine,  which  the  Lord  planted 
wholly  a  right  seed,  turned  into  the  degenerate  plant 
of  a  strange  vine.  It  is  the  gold  become  dim,  and 
the  most  fine  gold  changed.  Man's  original  sin  was 
selfishness,  and  selfishness  is  its  fruit  in  all  the  first 
sinner's  progeny.  This  is  the  universal  hereditary 
disease  of  the  race,  which  nothing  but  grace  divine 
can  cure. 

Wherever  we  find  any  thing  truly  generous  and 
disinterested,  it  is  doubtless  attributable  to  the  ex- 
pansion of  the  soul  by  the  infusion  of  a  new  affection. 
It  is  the  stronger,  disarming,  despoiling,  and  casting 
out  the  strong.  It  is  the  victorious  Seed  of  the 
woman,  hurling  forth,  with  bruised  head,  the  old 
serpent  that  even  in  paradise  insinuated  himself 
into  the  very  citadel  of  our  nature.  It  is  the  Spirit 
triumphing  over  the  flesh ;  charity,  the  fruit  of  the 
Spirit,  triumphing  over  selfishness,  the  work  of  the 
flesh.  Without  this  antagonizing,  renovating,  puri- 
fying power,  the  human  heart  were  as  greedy  as  the 
sea,  and  morally  as  barren  as  its  sandy  shore.^  It  is 
as  true  now  of  mankind  in  general  as  it  was  of  the 
apostle's  inconstant  companions  when  he  wrote  from 
his  prison  in  Rome,  "  All  seek  their  own." 

Why  do  so  many  practise  the  degrading  sensual 

1  Baffles. 


CHARITY  NOT   SELFISH.  139 

vices,  regardless  of  the  effect  upon  their  families  and 
friends?  Why  do  they  mar  the  noblest  work  of 
God,  blighting  the  blooming  hopes  of  youth,  break- 
ing the  trusting  hearts  of  women,  destroying  the 
peace  of  happy  households,  and  hurrying  to  the 
grave  those  who  love  them  best?  It  is  because 
the  lower  nature  in  them  has  overmastered  the 
higher,  binding  them  to  evil  as  with  bands  of  iron ; 
while  the  golden  chain  that  held  them  to  the  throne 
of  God  is  sundered,  and  the  cords  of  sympathy  which 
connected  them  with  their  fellow-men  are  attenuated 
to  gossamer  threads  scarcely  to  be  seen  in  the  sun- 
shine. 

The  desire  of  indulging  their  baser  animal  appe- 
tites renders  them  indifferent  to  all  that  is  noble  in 
virtue  and  all  that  is  glorious  in  religion,  and  the 
fear  of  God  and  the  love  of  man  have  alike  yielded 
to  the  despotic  power  of  selfishness.  So  fascinated 
are  they  by  the  serpent  that  infolds  them,  or  so 
stupefied  by  its  deadly  sting,  that  they  have  no  eyes 
to  see  the  ruin  they  have  wrought,  no  ears  to  hear 
the  wailing  they  have  caused,  no  hearts  to  feel  for 
the  hearts  that  throb  beneath  their  feet. 

And  how  much  better  is  it,  often,  with  the  intel- 
lectual man,  the  man  of  science  and  lotters,  the  man 
of  cultivated  taste  and  lofty  genius  ?  He  seems  to 
be  doing  no  harm ;  he  seems  to  be  obeying  his  better 
instincts,  and  developing  the  nobler  parts  of  his 
nature;  and  the  pursuit  of  truth,  and  the  love  of 
beauty,  and  the  discovery  of  God  in  his  works,  we 
are  apt  to  imagine,  ought  to  refine  his  sensibilities, 


140  PAULINE  CHAEITY. 

elevate  his  moral  principles,  and  improve  and  purify 
every  element  of  his  character.  But  how  frequently 
are  we  forced  to  confess  the  very  opposite  result ! 
How  frequently  do  we  find  men  of  sujDerior  mind 
and  rich  aesthetic  culture  cold-hearted  and  alto- 
gether selfish !  For  knowledge  is  not  benevolence, 
and  genius  is  not  generosity;  and  a  man  may 
pursue  the  one  with  the  greatest  ardor,  and  indulge 
the  other  with  the  utmost  enthusiasm,  for  no  higher 
end  than  self-gratification  or  self-aggrandizement. 

Yes,  and  the  author  may  write  you  a  library,  and 
the  poet  may  sing  you  into  Elysium,  and  the  logician 
may  bind  you  with  the  welded  links  of  his  argument, 
and  the  orator  may  chariot  you  away  to  the  third 
heaven  in  the  whirlwind  of  his  eloquence,  and  the 
astronomer  may  lead  you  up  the  galaxy  to  the  very 
gates  of  the  city  of  God,  and  the  geologist  may  con- 
duct you  down  through  the  rocky  strata  till  yo^  feel 
the  central  fires  of  the  globe,  and  the  architect  may 
rear  you  gorgeous  palaces  and  fill  your  city  with  im- 
posing public  structures,  while  the  sculptor  peoples 
them  with  statues  of  classic  mould  and  the  painter 
adorns  their  walls  with  the  richest  hues  of  heaven ; 
but  each  pursues  his  chosen  path,  not  for  your  sake, 
but  his  own  —  not  for  the  good  he  does  to  others, 
but  the  pleasure  he  enjoys  in  it,  the  profit  he  realizes, 
or  the  glory  he  hopes  to  gain ;  and  we  state  the  lof- 
tiest motive  of  his  labor  and  the  noblest  inspiration 
of  his  genius,  when  we  say  he  seeks  his  own. 

One  of  the  most  obvious  and  most  odious  forms 
of  this  selfish  habit  is  cupidity  or  covetousness.     St. 


CHARITY  NOT   SELFISH.  141 

Paul  denounces  it  as  idolatry;  and  idolatry  it  un- 
doubtedly is  of  the  most  degrading  sort.  It  is  setting 
Mammon  upon  Jehovah's  throne,  and  falling  down 
before  him.  It  is  worshipping  gold  instead  of  the 
living  God.  And  many  among  us,  I  am  sure,  are 
guilty  of  this  most  irrational  homage ;  and  to  such 
extent  is  it  often  carried,  as  to  exclude  justice,  hu- 
manity, and  every  nobler  sentiment ;  and  so  general 
is  its  prevalence  that  we  scarcely  know  where  to 
look,  even  among  baptized  believers,  for  any  prac- 
tical exemplification  of  the  unselfishness  of  charity. 

On  all  sides,  in  all  classes,  from  the- highest  to  the 
lowest,  what  a  feverish  pulse  prevails,  what  detesta- 
ble greed  of  gold,  what  unscrupulous  efforts  to  obtain 
it,  what  criminal  profusion  in  expending  it,  and  then 
what  hungering  and  thirsting  after  more !  Hasting 
to  be  rich  is  almost  universal ;  and  some  there  are 
who  are  not  satisfied  with  the  acquisition  of  a  fortune 
that  in  former  times  would  have  sufficed  for  a  hun- 
dred families,  but  they  must  count  their  gains  by 
millions,  and 

"  Stretch  their  arms  like  seas 
To  grasp  in  all  the  shore," 

while  multitudes  around  them  are  famishing  for 
bread,  and  unable  to  purchase  ground  for  a  grave. 
And  they  are  as  careful  to  keep  as  they  are  anxious 
to  accumulate ;  and  if  ever  they  do  a  generous  deed 
to  the  needy,  it  is  not  difficult  to  traoe  it  to  some 
purely  selfish  motive.  Habitually  they  embezzle  and 
pervert  the  gifts  which  God  hath  placed  in  their 
hands  for  the  good  of  others ;  acting,  not  as  the  trus- 


142  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

tees,  but  as  the  proprietors ;  not  as  the  almoners,  but 
as  the  beneficiaries;  not  as  the  channels  through 
which  the  streams  should  flow,  but  as  the  pools  in 
which  they  are  to  settle  and  stagnate.^ 

To  what  purpose  do  they  live,  but  to  make  money 
and  to  enjoy  it,  to  hoard  it  up  or  squander  it  away  ? 
To  these  noble  objects  all  their  energies  are  applied ; 
for  these  worthy  ends  every  faculty  of  mind  and 
body  is  kept  in  constant  tension.  During  the  day, 
they  grind  as  much  as  they  can  out  of  every  one  that 
falls  into  their  rapacious  hands ;  and  at  night  they 
lie  down  to  rest,  thanking  God  for  their  freedom 
from  the  accursed  covetousness  which  has  impelled 
some  poor  starving  wretch  to  theft  or  forgery.  Their 
highest  literature  is  that  of  the  ledger,  and  the  acme 
of  all  their  science  is  the  alchemy  that  transmutes 
every  thing  into  money.  They  know  how  to  distil 
silver  from  the  poor  man's  sweat,  and  coin  the  wid- 
ow's tears  into  current  gold.  Their  accumulations 
and  investments  constitute  the  unfailing  theme  of 
their  discourse,  their  study  by  day  and  their  dream 
by  night;  filling  them  with  innumerable  cares  and 
disquietudes,  taking  all  the  sweetness  out  of  social 
life,  and  mingling  in  the  cup  of  domestic  joy  the  very 
gall  of  bitterness.  Rather  than  part  with  a  little  of 
their  pelf,  they  would  let  a  thousand  Lazaruses  per- 
ish at  their  gates,  would  see  your  churches  closed, 
your  missions  abandoned,  your  hospitals  demolished, 
your  asylums  swept  away,  every  agency  of  mercy 
paralj'zed,  every  Bethesda-fountain  dried  up,  the 
whole  machinery  of  the  gospel  stopped  in  its  benefi- 

1  John  Harris. 


CHARITY  NOT   SELFISH.  143 

cent  revolutions,  and  the  river  of  the  water  of  life 
arrested  as  it  gushes  from  the  throne  of  God.  They 
have  fixed  upon  their  treasures  a  grasp  which  no 
solicitations  of  want  can  loosen,  and  nothing  but  the 
touch  of  death  can  dissolve.  For  gold  they  would 
curse  the  Israel  of  God ;  and  for  silver  sell  the  God 
of  Israel.     Living  and  dying,  they  seek  their  own. 

The  history  of  the  world's  vaulting  ambitions,  in 
the  lives  and  achievements  of  its  rulers*  and  con- 
querors, may  furnish  other  pertinent  illustrations  of 
the  principle.  Suffice  it  to  cite  a  single  instance,  the 
most  remarkable  of  modern  times. 

From  amidst  the  chaotic  debris  of  the  French 
Revolution,  arose  a  genius  of  such  brilliancy  that 
men  shaded  their  eyes  to  look  at  him.  He  brought 
light  out  of  darkness,  order  out  of  confusion,  beauty 
out  of  deformity,  harmony  out  of  wildest  dissonance. 
Over  the  ghastly  and  gory  corpse  of  his  country  he 
threw  the  mantle  of  his  glory,  and  she  became  the 
wonder  of  the  nations.  Into  the  putrid  and  per- 
ishing organism  he  breathed  a  new  life,  and  through 
every  vein  and  artery  went  dancing  once  more  the 
gay  and  gladsome  blood ;  and  in  the  joy  of  the  na- 
tional renaissance,  men  soon  forgot  the  despotism  of 
the  old  dynasty  and  the  oppressions  of  the  ancient 
noblesse.  Against  the  rotten  thrones  of  Europe  he 
set  his  foot,  and  they  fell  thundering  to  the  ground; 
while  amid  the  dust  and  din  arose,  and  not  in  vain, 
the  cry  of  "  Rights  !  Liberty  !  Constitution  ! "  The 
depths  of  the  Inquisition  were  explored,  and  its 
hideous  iniquities  were  brought  to  blush  in  the  light 


144  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

of  noon,  and  its  sanguinary  ministers  requited  with 
the  fate  of  their  victims. 

Blessings,  doubtless,  were  shed  upon  the  world  by 
this  man,  and  all  his  acts  were  germs  of  future  bless- 
ings; and  his  constant  aim  and  endeavor  was  to 
make  France  more  powerful  and  more  splendid  than 
she  had  ever  been ;  and  when  this  was  accomplished, 
he  was,  to  use  the  nervous  expression  of  Madame 
De  Stael,  "not  the  emperor,  but  the  empire."  His 
was  not  the  little  greatness  that  sought  the  ease,  the 
comfort,  the  luxury,  which  his  officers  and  soldiers 
might  not  share ;  but  he  so  identified  them  with 
himself  in  every  thing,  that  they  felt  his  glory  to 
be  their  own,  while  they  honored  him  as  something 
more  than  man  and  little  less  than  God.  And  such 
to  this  day  is  the  witchery  of  his  name,  that  myriad 
hearts  everywhere  leap  at  its  utterance,  and  "  Vive 
VEmpereurf'  is  ready  to  burst  from  the  lips  of  him 
who  reads  the  history,  as  it  burst  from  those  of  his 
veterans  sent  forth  against  him  on  his  return  from 
Elba. 

Yes,  Napoleon  was  France,  and  he  sought  to  be 
Europe,  and  claimed  even  to  be  Providence.  He 
made  kings  of  his  brothers,  and  queens  of  his  sis- 
ters ;  and  his  wife's  relations,  as  well  as  his  own,  he 
raised  to  the  highest  honors.  But  all  others  were 
puppets  in  his  hands,  and  he  the  mighty  magician  at 
whose  beck  they  danc^ed  —  his  single  will  the  power 
behind  the  machinery  that  moved  every  thing,  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Adriatic,  and  from  the  Mediter- 
ranean to  the  North  Sea.  Valor  he  rewarded  in  the 
most  princely  way,  for  it  had  illustrated  his  own 


CHAKITY   NOT    SELFISH.  145 

idea  and  executed  his  magnificent  scheme.  That 
scheme  cost  thousands  of  lives,  and  millions  of  tears, 
and  annual  hecatombs  of  broken  hearts,  and  years 
on  years  of  wide-spread  anguish  and  despair ;  but  no 
matter,  his  will  must  be  done,  his  ambition  gratified ; 
and  against  these,  what  were  all  human  sufferings, 
but  the  small  dust  of  the  balance  ?  Does  a  sister 
stand  in  his  way  ?  the  most  sacred  of  all  earthly  ties 
must  be  sundered.  Does  a  Louis  raise  his  voice  for 
the  rights  of  his  people?  he  must  be  deprived  at 
once  of  all  power  to  protect  or  aid  them.  Does  a 
Bourbon  occupy  a  position  in  which  he  may  pos- 
sibly prove  troublesome?  a  bullet  at  midnight  re- 
moves the  Due  d'Enghien  from  the  conqueror's  path. 
Is  she  whom  he  has  loved  above  all  others,  and  who 
seems  necessary  to  his  very  existence,  supposed  to 
be  an  impediment  to  his  further  progress?  the  mar- 
riage bond  is  broken,  and  the  gentle  and  devoted 
Josephine  is  thrust  from  the  stage  of  empire ;  and 
her  children,  fainting  with  anguish,  are  forced  to 
grace  the  triumph  of  her  rival. 

Was  the  Emperor,  then,  a  cold  and  heartless  mon- 
ster? No,  indeed!  He  had  a  warm  and  sympathetic 
nature,  and  his  mighty  brain  was  the  engine  of  a 
majestic  soul.  But  his  conscience  was  blinded,  and 
all  his  higher  instincts  were  perverted.  He  was  his 
own  end  and  his  own  idol.  In  himself  concentred 
all  his  schemes,  terminated  all  his  aims;  and  "the 
man  without  a  model  and  without  a  shadow,"  how- 
ever admired  as  a  genius,  applauded  as  a  hero,  and 
glorified  as  a  conqueror,  was  manifestly  supremely 
selfish.     And  all  who  follow  in  his  course  are  sharers 


146  PAULINE  CHABITY. 

of  his  sin.  His  acts  may  be  bolder  and  grander; 
their  guilt  is  as  great,  and  their  punishment  as  sure. 
The  draught  that  stimulated  the  elephant  proves 
fatal  to  myriads  of  insects.  History  comes,  and 
writes  upon  the  tombs  of  earth's  abortive  ambi- 
tions —  "  They  sought  their  own  !  " 

We  might  carry  out  the  principle  into  many  other 
particulars.  Selfishness  despoils  of  all  good  whatever 
it  touches.  Even  natural  affection  is  tainted  with  it, 
and  ordinary  friendship  is  not  often  free  from  its 
hereditary  virus,  and  a  man's  regard  for  his  imme- 
diate family  and  remoter  relations  is  ordinarily  only 
the  expansion  of  his  self-love  over  those  who  are  in 
a  manner  but  parts  of  himself.  And  the  pecuniary 
relief  which  we  give  sometimes  to  suffering  indigence, 
and  the  larger  contributions  which  we  make  occa- 
sionally to  some  of  the  chief  objects  and  enterprises 
of  Christian  philanthropy,  what  are  they,  in  many 
instances  if  not  in  most,  but  offerings  to  our  own 
interest,  ambition,  or  vanity  ?  And  I  appeal  to  you, 
dear  brethren,  who  know  the  world  and  its  crooked 
ways  so  well,  whether  self  is  not  generally  the  con- 
trolling consideration  in  all  its  vaunted  charities. 
And  how  can  it  be  otherwise  in  trade,  politics,  liter- 
ature, professional  life,  the  sesthetic  arts,  the  offices 
of  state,  the  high  places  of  government,  where  op- 
portunity is  so  frequent  and  temptation  so  strong  ? 
Where,  among  worldly  men  who  have  not  been  with 
Jesus  and  learned  of  him,  shall  we  find  real,  self- 
denying,  disinterested  beneficence  ?  Ah !  it  is  but  an 
empty  name  with  them,  or  the  mockery  of  brainless 


CHARITY  NOT   SELFISH.  147 

scoffers ;  while  all  ears  are  open  to  the  voice  of  the 
tempter,  gainsaying  the  word  of  God,  and  offering 
them  in  reward  of  their  worship  the  wealth  and 
glory  of  the  world. 

But  is  there  any  thing  else  so  unworthy  of  a  ra- 
tional and  immortal  nature,  and  so  debasing  to  its 
noblest  faculties  —  any  thing  so  contrary  to  the  love 
of  Christ,  so  repugnant  to  his  spirit,  so  regardless  of 
his  precepts,  so  opposite  to  his  example,  so  hostile 
to  his  gracious  rule,  or  so  reckless  of  his  proffered 
rewards  —  as  this  all-absorbing  selfishness  ?  The 
eagle  will  not  eat  his  prey  alone,  the  lion  shares  Ids 
feast  with  the  jackal,  and  the  jackal  leaves  some  rem- 
nants for  the  vulture.  Even  the  overloaded  cart  will 
scatter  as  it  goes,  and  nature  with  a  thousand  voices 
preaches  beneficence  to  man.^  For  what  is  there,  of 
all  the  Creator's  teeming  works,  that  does  not  min- 
ister in  some  way  to  the  welfare  of  his  rational  crea- 
ture? Does  not  the  sun  give  him  light,  the  field 
yield  him  bread,  the  stream  afford  him  drink,  the 
flower  regale  him  with  fragrance,  the  song-bird  fur- 
nish him  with  music,  the  tree  and  the  vine  load  his 
table  with  luxuries,  and  every  object  and  every  ele- 
ment contribute  something  to  his  sustenance  or  his 
comfort?  And  shall  man,  to  whom  all  things  min- 
ister, be  the  solitary  exception,  the  anomaly  of  the 
universe,  — 

"  The  wretch  concentred  all  in  self  "  — 

like  the  Dead  Sea,  always  receiving,  but  never  im- 
parting—  like  the  hungry  grave,  always  devouring, 

1  John  Harris. 


148  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

but  never  satisfied  —  like  the  bottomless  pit,  forever 
filling,  and  yet  never  full?  Nay,  let  him  come  out 
of  his  shell,  and  look  abroad  upon  his  brethren,  and 
remember  that  all  mankind  have  claims  upon  their 
fellow-men,  and  that  in  so  far  as  God  hath  blessed 
him  with  his  bounty  He  intends  to  make  him  a  bless- 
ing to  others.  Let  him  "be  rich  in  good  works, 
ready  to  distribute,  willing  to  communicate,  laying 
up  in  store  for  himself  a  good  foundation  against  the 
time  to  come"  —  allying  himself  to  infinite  wealth  — 
acquiring  an  interest  in  all  that  belongs  to  Christ 
—  sending  his  treasure  before  him  into  the  heavenly. 
Jerusalem  —  converting  his  gold  and  silver  into  an 
imperishable  diadem  upon  his  brow  —  holding  forth 
to  the  admiration  of  men  and  angels  an  exemplifica- 
tion of  that  charity  which  "  seeketh  not  her  own." 

But  why  these  remonstrances  and  lamentations? 
Is  there  no  more  any  charity  left  upon  earth  ?  Has 
the  heaven-born  spirit  of  love,  grieved  at  the  hard- 
ness of  the  human  heart,  fled  like  Astrsea  to  the  sky, 
and  left  this  wretched  sphere  to  the  dominion  of  the 
arch-demon  selfishness  ?  No,  thank  God !  the  foot- 
prints of  Him  who  eighteen  centuries  ago  "went 
about  doing  good  "  still  shine  over  the  surface  of  this 
redeemed  planet,  brightening  and  multiplying  amidst 
the  darkness  like  the  stars  of  the  evening  twilight. 
For  there  are  those  who,  having  received  his  spirit, 
rejoice  to  copy  his  example.  Charity  carries  them 
quite  out  of  themselves,  makes  them  forget  them- 
selves in  their  interest  for  others.  It  is  something 
supernatural  and   divine  —  the   love   of    God   shed 


CHARITY  NOT   SELFISH.  149 

abroad  in  the  heart,  and  overflowing  on  all  around. 
From  heaven  it  came,  and  to  heaven  it  tends,  as 
the  water  from  the  ocean  returns  thither  again.  De- 
lighting in  God  as  the  supreme  good,  it  establishes 
with  its  neighbor  an  identity  of  heart  and  soul.  It 
teaches  us  to  love  others  as  Christ  hath  loved  us, 
making  his  love  to  us  both  the  motive  and  the 
measure  of  our  love  to  them.  It  is  love,  not  in  word 
nor  in  tongue,  but  in  deed  and  in  truth.  It  saith  not 
to  the  needy  brother  or  sister  —  "  Depart  in  peace  I 
be  warmed  !  be  filled  !  "  while  it  giveth  them  not  those 
things  which  are  needful  for  the  body ;  but  esteems 
it  a  real  privilege  to  contribute  to  their  relief  and 
comfort,  and  for  their  good  regards  no  sacrifice  of 
its  own. 

This  is  the  charity  of  St.  Paul.  How  beautiful 
upon  the  mountains  are  the  feet  of  its  messengers  I 
How  lovely,  walking  in  her  own  light,  and  shedding 
a  gracious  radiance  on  all  around,  is  this  heavenly 
vision  of  peace  and  power,  as  she  goes  forth  to  her 
work  of  mercy  —  seeking  out  the  needy  that  she 
may  supply  their  needs  —  inquiring  after  the  chil- 
dren of  misfortune  that  she  may  wipe  away  their 
tears  and  heal  their  broken  hearts  —  giving  beauty  for 
ashes,  the  oil  of  ]by  for  mourning,  and  the  garment 
of  praise  for  the  spirit  of  heaviness  —  driving  before 
her  all  the  dragons  of  hell,  and  making  the  wilder- 
ness rejoice  even  with  joy  and  singing,  and  the  desert 
bud  and  blossom  as  the  rose  I  Fall  we  into  her  train, 
and  become  partakers  of  her  blessedness  !  Cast  your 
bread  upon  the  waters,  and  you  shall  find  it  after 
many  days.     God  is  not  unrighteous  to  forget  your 


150  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

work  and  labor  of  love.  Sowing  in  tears,  you  shall 
reap  in  joy.  Every  generous  and  noble  deed  plants 
a  germ  in  some  human  heart  which  shall  here- 
after produce  the  plentiful  fruits  of  righteousness. 
Charity,  like  the  banyan-tree,  throwing  out  branches 
which  touch  the  ground  and  taking  root  shoot  forth 
again  in  many  a  goodly  form,  has  a  wonderful  fecun- 
dity and  power  of  self-propagation,  with  endless  ages 
for  its  growth  and  infinite  fruitfulness  for  its  glory. 
The  undulations  you  produce  in  the  waters  of  mercy 
must  go  on  extending  over  the  universe  and  through 
eternity.  And  the  effect  upon  your  own  spirits  shall 
be  like  that  of  harmonies  from  higher  spheres ;  and 
under  its  hallowing  and  tranquillizing  power,  life 
shall  be  to  you  as  a  perpetual  summer  eve,  with  all 
things  calm,  and  fragrant,  and  divinely  restful,  be- 
tokening the  eternal  morrow  of  your  hopes.^  And 
when  like  David  you  shall  have  served  your  own 
generation  by  the  will  of  God,  like  him  you  shall 
fall  asleep  and  be  laid  unto  your  fathers:  and 
the  dreams  of  paradise  shall  be  but  echoes  of  the 
melodies  with  which  you  filled  the  world  in  pass- 
ing through  it;  and  others,  whose  being  you  have 
made  a  blessing,  shall  come  and  breathe  their  bene- 
dictions over  your  dust,  and  write  upon  your  monu- 
ments —  "  Charity  seeketh  not  her  own !  " 

1  Frederick  Faber. 


CHARITY  NOT   lEKITABLE.  151 


XII. 

CHARITY  NOT  IRRITABLE. 

Charity  is  not  easily  provoked.  —  1  Cor.  xiii.  5. 

Bishop  Burnet  says  of  Archbishop  Leighton: 
"After  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  arch- 
bishop for  many  years,  and  having  been  with  him 
by  night  and  by  day,  at  home  and  abroad,  in  public 
and  private,  I  must  say  I  never  saw  him  in  any 
temper  in  which  I  myself  would  not  wish  to  be 
found  at  death." 

Beautiful  testimony !  Admirable  character !  Who 
of  us  can  hope  ever  to  attain  to  such  perfection  of 
moral  virtue,  to  such  complete  subjugation  of  our 
evil  nature,  to  such  thorough  habitual  mastery  of 
our  own  spirits  ? 

Beloved  brethren,  the  possession  of  the  charity 
described  by  St.  Paul  would  justify  the  same  state- 
ment concerning  any  one  of  us,  and  the  divine  prop- 
erties of  charity  exhibited  in  this  chapter  would 
produce  the  same  character  in  all  Christians. 

Charity  is  here  personified  as  some  bright  angelic 
being,  shedding  a  balmy  influence  over  the  hearts  of 
men,  healing  their  wounds  and  soothing  their  sor- 
rows, expelling  the  demons  of  discord  and  mischief, 
harmonizing  the  aims  and  interests  of  society,  and 


152  PAULINE   CHARITY. 

bringing  all  beautiful  and  heavenly  things  in  her 
train. 

The  eighth  of  her  eleven  attributes,  which  now 
claims  our  attention,  is  placidity  of  temper,  implying 
the  conquest  and  suppression  of  those  irascible  and 
fiery  elements  of  our  nature  which  sometimes  give 
us  so  much  trouble,  and  the  acquisition  and  putting- 
on  of  that  "ornament  of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit 
which  is  in  the  sight  of  God  of  very  great  price." 
"  Charity  is  not  easily  provoked." 

Now  the  temper  is  unquestionably  constitutional 
and  hereditary.  It  is  something  born  with  us,  and 
sharing  with  all  our  moral  faculties  and  affections 
the  sad  effects  of  the  fall.  Therefore  it  is  too  often 
erroneously  regarded  as  beyond  our  control,  beyond 
the  jurisdiction  of  religion,  even  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  renewing  grace  of  God.  "  Our  temper,"  it  is 
said,  "being  natural  to  us,  must  be  irresistible  and 
ineradicable ;  it  is  as  much  a  part  of  ourselves  as 
any  of  our  personal  qualities,  and  we  are  no  more 
responsible  for  it  than  for  the  color  of  our  eyes  or 
the  conformation  of  our  brains." 

But  this  is  the  sophistry  of  a  corrupt  and  deceit- 
ful heart,  which  would  subvert  the  whole  system  of 
moral  obligation,  and  justify  the  worst  crimes  that 
men  are  capable  of  committing.  For  where  there  is 
no  powe?  of  moral  restraint,  there  can  be  no  just  or 
reasonable  imputation  of  guilt,  whatever  a  man  may 
do,  or  whatever  he  may  leave  undone.  Under  the 
Christian  economy,  especially,  that  cannot  be  con- 
sidered a  duty  which  we  have  no  power  to  perform, 


CHARITY  NOT  IRRITABLE.  153 

nor  can  that  be  deemed  a  crime  which  we  are  no- 
wise able  to  avoid.  If  we  cannot  possibly  curb  an 
irascible  temper,  then  a  merciful  God  can  impute  no 
guilt  to  its  indulgence.  But  constitutional  tend- 
ency is  not  irresistible  constraint;  natural  incite- 
ment is  not  absolute  compulsion.  If  we  have  no 
power  of  ourselves  to  overcome  the  evil,  yet  is  it  not 
invincible  to  the  grace  of  God.  And  for  this  very 
purpose  the  grace  of  God  is  given,  to  enable  us  to 
subdue  our  sinful  tempers,  and  bring  our  fractious- 
and  rebellious  nature  under  effectual  discipline. 
Therefore  we  are  exhorted  to  mortify  the  flesh,  with 
the  affections  and  lusts ;  to  cast  off  and  crucify  the 
old  man  with  his  deeds,  and  put  on  the  new  man 
that  after  the  image  of  God  is  created  in  righteous- 
ness and  true  holiness. 

And  why  should  this  be  deemed  an  unattainable 
victory?  Shall  not  the  stronger  eject  the  strong? 
Shall  not  the  dawn  dispel  the  darkness  ?  Shall  not 
Charity  subdue  and  control  an  angry  and  irritable 
spirit?  Have  not  the  most  imperious  natural  pro- 
pensities and  the  most  tyrannous  evil  habits,  with 
the  aid  of  divine  grace,  been  a  thousand  times  ef- 
fectually resisted  and  overcome?  Did  not  Saul  of 
Tarsus,  fierce  as  the  eagle  and  furious  as  the  tiger, 
breathing  out  threatening  and  slaughter  against  the 
disciples  of  Jesus,  in  a  short  time  become  mild  as 
the  lamb,  gentle  as  the  dove,  meek  and  lowly  of 
heart  as  the  most  Christlike  of  those  whom  he  had 
lately  persecuted  unto  the  death  ?  If  Socrates  by  his 
philosophy  conquered  his  intemperate  and  libidinous 
propensities,  how  much  more  should  the  Christian, 


154  PAULINE   CHARITY. 

with  the  Holy  Spirit  dwelling  in  him,  helping  his 
infirmities,  and  filling  his  heart  with  the  charity  of 
God,  be  able  to  bring  his  whole  nature  into  captivity 
to  the  obedience  of  Christ ! 

A  certain  famous  divine  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, one  of  the  brightest  theological  luminaries  she 
has  registered  among  her  clergy  since  the  Refor- 
mation, was  originally  of  an  irritable  and  violent 
temper,  which  gave  him  great  trouble  and  mortifi- 
cation ;  but  he  wrestled  for  the  mastery,  often 
spending  whole  nights  in  prayer  and  sometimes 
whole  weeks  in  fasting,  till  at  length  he  was  so  thor- 
oughly renewed  in  the  spirit  of  his  mind  that  for 
many  of  the  later  years  of  his  life  no  one,  friend  or 
foe,  ever  observed  in  him  on  any  occasion,  under  any 
provocation,  the  slightest  degree  of  anger  or  impa- 
tience. According  to  his  own  account,  the  same  is 
true  of  Francis  de  Sales;  and  the  late  Dean  Hook 
testifies  of  himself  that  the  quick  and  fiery  spirit  of 
his  boyhood,  under  the  discipline  of  divine  grace, 
had  given  place  to  a  placid  and  gentle  disposition 
which  appeared  to  himself  miraculous,  and  people 
who  saw  how  easily  he  kept  his  temper  and  how 
freely  he  forgave  an  injury  could  hardly  believe 
what  he  told  them  of  his  former  irritability ;  and  a 
like  triumph  seems  to  have  been  achieved  by  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,  though  attributed  by  others  to 
the  force  of  his  own  will  —  a  will  no  doubt  assisted 
and  sustained  by  a  higher  agency,  for  God  often 
works  in  men  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good  pleasure 
while  they  are  quite  unconscious  of  his  gracious  co- 
operation. 


CHARITY  NOT   IRRITABLE.  165 

And  have  we  not  ourselves  witnesed  similar  trans- 
formations, though  perhaps  less  remarkable  because 
in  characters  less  conspicuous,  effected  by  the  sub- 
duing and  sanctifying  touch  of  the  finger  of  God? 
True,  after  this  mighty  renovation  of  the  inner  man, 
this  new  creation  in  Christ  Jesus,  there  may  be,  in 
unguarded  moments,  or  under  special  temptations, 
some  sad  ebullitions  of  an  evil  temper  —  some  roots 
of  bitterness  springing  up  and  troubling  the  sincer- 
est  Christian ;  but  these  will  be  only  occasional,  not 
habitual  —  exceptional,  not  characteristic  —  sins  of 
infirmity,  not  of  deliberate  volition  —  surprises  of  an 
enemy  in  ambush,  from  which  the  captive  hastens  to 
escape,  and  against  which  he  afterwards  guards  with 
the  greater  vigilance.  Betrayed  by  a  quick  temper, 
the  best  of  men  have  sometimes  fallen  into  sudden 
anger;  but  the  sin,  neither  frequent  nor  dominant, 
was  no  sooner  discovered  than  it  was  bewailed  with 
godly  sorrow  and  washed  away  with  penitential 
tears.  Such  instances  are  but  the  desperate  strug- 
gles of  a  conquered  foe,  the  expiring  spasms  of  the 
old  man  upon  the  cross.  The  work  of  renewal  and 
sanctification,  already  begun,  is  going  on  in  every 
child  of  grace  ;  and  with  diligence  and  fidelity  on 
our  part,  the  victory  will  soon  be  complete.  But  if, 
with  all  the  aids  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  word 
of  God,  and  the  sacraments  of  the  Church,  and  the 
incitements  of  good  example,  and  the  allurements  of 
the  love  of  Christ,  we  make  no  progress  in  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  temper ;  if,  after  years  and  years  of 
religious  culture  and  self-discipline,  we  find  our- 
selves still  the  slaves  of  anger,  annoyed  by  every 


156  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

little  incident,  enraged  by  every  greater  provoca- 
tion, by  our  habitual  petulance  disturbing  the  peace 
of  the  family,  or  by  our  occasional  violence  afflict- 
ing the  household  of  faith ;  then  have  we  reason  to 
fear  that  we  have  received  the  grace  of  God  in  vain, 
that  we  are  wofuUy  wanting  in  the  Christian  charac- 
teristic so  highly  commended  by  the  apostle. 

"  Charity  is  not  easily  provoked."  Some  say  she 
is  not  provoked  at  all.  And,  indeed,  there  is  nothing 
in  the  original  of  the  text  answering  to  the  adverb  in 
the  translation ;  which  is  therefore  omitted  in  the 
Revised  Version.  Yet  is  it  not  all  anger  that  is 
incompatible  with  charity,  and  there  is  even  a  char- 
itable anger.  The  father  may  be  angry  at  the  mis- 
conduct of  his  child,  and  yet  retain  toward  the  child 
all  his  paternal  tenderness.  His  anger  may  be  but 
the  expression  of  his  concern  for  the  child's  wel- 
fare, of  his  benevolent  opposition  to  that  which  is 
injurious  to  the  child.  In  this  case,  anger  is  charity 
itself.  But  if  the  father  have  any  ill-will  toward 
the  child ;  if  he  wish  him  evil,  or  desire  to  do  him 
harm  ;  then  his  anger  is  malevolence,  the  very  oppo- 
site of  charity. 

The  only  proper  object  of  our  anger  is  sin ;  God 
is  angry  at  nothing  else ;  and  at  sin  we  may  well  be 
angry,  so  great  an  enemy  is  it  both  to  God  and  man.^ 
Who,  that  retains  any  love  of  truth,  is  not  angry  at 
deceit  and  hypocrisy?  Who,  that  has  any  regard 
for  the  rights  or  compassion  for  the  weaknesses  of 
others,  can  be  blamed  for  showing  anger  at  injustice, 
1  Jonathan  Edwards. 


CHAKITY  NOT  lEKITABLE.  157 

oppression,  or  cruelty?  Was  not  Christ,  our  perfect 
Example,  the  personal  revelation  of  the  divine  char- 
ity, angry  at  the  hardness  of  heart  vrhich  rejected  his 
heavenly  teaching,  at  the  sacrilegious  traffic  which 
made  his  Father's  house  a  den  of  thieves,  and  at  the 
blind  and  bigoted  selfishness  which  forbade  little 
children  to  come  to  him  for  a  blessing?  Was  not 
Jehovah  angry  with  his  chosen  people  about  the 
golden  calf  and  the  matter  of  Baal-peor,  and  angry 
with  Moses  and  Aaron  for  their  sin  at  Meribah 
Kadesh,  and  with  Uzzah  when  he  touched  the  ark, 
and  with  David  when  he  numbered  the  people,  and 
with  Solomon  when  he  became  a  worshipper  of  idols  ? 
And  what  was  all  this  but  the  concern  of  Infinite 
Love  for  those  who  were  ruining  themselves  and 
bringing  unspeakable  injury  upon  others  by  their 
evil  deeds  —  the  anger  of  an  affectionate  father  for 
a  wilful  and  wayward  son  —  the  chidings  and  the 
chastenings  of  the  Eternal  Charity  ? 

Anger,  then,  is  not  always  sinful,  and  charity  is 
opposed  only  to  sinful  anger.  Anger  is  sinful  when 
it  is  unjust  in  its  occasion,  or  when  it  is  immoderate 
in  its  measure. 

It  is  unjust  in  its  occasion  when  it  is  without 
cause,  or  when  it  is  excited  by  a  wrong  cause,  or 
when  the  cause  is  a  trivial  and  unworthy  one.  Such 
was  Cain's  anger  at  Abel,  and  Saul's  anger  at  David, 
and  Jonah's  anger  at  Jehovah,  and  Herod's  anger  at 
the  Eastern  sages,  and  that  of  the  laborers  in  our 
Lord's  parable  at  the  impartiality  of  their  employer, 
and  that  of  the  elder  son  in  another  parable  at  the 
father's  forgiveness  of  the  younger.     And  if  we  are 


158  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

angry  at  our  brother  without  a  cause ;  if  we  are  angry 
at  that  which  is  a  misfortune,  and  not  a  fault ;  if  we 
are  angry  at  an  involuntary  error,  or  an  accidental 
occurrence ;  if  we  are  angry  at  virtues,  good  deeds, 
and  duties  done  to  ourselves;  if  we  are  angry  at 
words  of  Christian  counsel  or  reproof,  faithfully 
uttered  in  brotherly  kindness;  if  wc  are  angry  at 
smaller  faults  in  others  than  those  of  which  we  are 
often  guilty  ourselves ;  then  is  our  anger  unjust  in 
its  occasion,  and  so  opposed  to  charity. 

It  is  immoderate  in  its  measure  when  it  is  more 
violent  than  the  nature  of  the  offence  will  warrant ; 
when  it  discards  the  dictates  of  reason,  and  spurns 
the  admonitions  of  prudence ;  when  it  becomes  the 
blind  fury  of  a  beast,  rather  than  the  rational  affec- 
tion of  a  man ;  when  it  casts  off  all  restraint,  and 
rages  like  a  demon,  and  cares  not  what  it  does ;  when 
it  is  continued  till  it  becomes  a  confirmed  habit,  and 
degenerates  into  malice,  and  takes  the  character  of 
revenge,  souring  the  whole  spirit  of  the  man,  and 
envenoming  every  faculty  and  affection  of  the  soul. 
"  Anger  may  surprise  thee  as  an  enemy ;  let  it  not 
lodge  with  thee  as  a  guest."  ^  Some  excitable  per- 
sons there  are,  of  generous  and  noble  impulses,  who 
are  liable  to  sudden  irritations,  and  who  at  first 
resent  an  injury  warmly ;  but  the  storm  is  soon  over, 
and  they  are  as  ready  to  forgive  as  they  were  to 
take  offence,  and  profoundly  grieved  and  ashamed 
for  having  suffered  themselves  to  be  surprised  into 
an  unseemly  passion.  Solomon  tells  us  that  "  anger 
resteth  in  the  bosom  of  fools ;  "  and  that  "  he  that  is 

1  Leighton. 


CHAEITY  NOT   IRRITABLE.  159 

slow  to  anger  is  better  than  the  mighty,  and  he  that 
ruleth  his  own  spirit  than  he  that  taketh  a  city." 
St.  Paul  gives  us  this  excellent  advice :  "  Be  ye 
angry,  and  sin  not ;  let  not  the  sun  go  down  upon 
your  wrath."  An  ecclesiastical  historian  informs  us 
of  two  Christians  of  the  early  days  of  the  Church  who 
had  quarrelled  in  the  morning,  and  at  evening  one 
of  them  sent  word  to  the  other,  saying  —  "  Brother, 
the  sun  is  going  down."  What  anger  could  with- 
stand such  an  appeal  ?  Even  the  heathen  Pythago- 
reans had  a  rule  which  bound  them,  whenever  there 
was  any  matter  of  difference  among  them,  to  fur- 
nish one  another  some  token  of  reconciliation  before 
the  setting  of  the  sun.  And  shall  the  followers  of 
Jesus  lie  down  to  sleep  with  anger  rankling  in  their 
bosoms?  Nay,  let  them  cast  out  the  fiend,  and 
quench  the  fire  with  the  sweet  waters  of  charity ! 

"  A  quick  and  fiery  temper,  easily  excited  and  irrit- 
able under  small  provocations,"  writes  one  whose  own 
experience  remarkably  verifies  his  words,  "  ought  to 
be  regarded  as  a  misfortune  and  a  disadvantage.  By 
such  a  temper,  ungoverned  and  unchecked,  a  man 
may  be  driven  to  acts  of  violence,  and  even  to  deeds 
of  blood ;  partially  restrained,  it  will  hurry  him  into 
acts  of  indiscretion,  and  involve  him  in  controversies 
and  disputes ;  but  let  such  a  temper  be  brought  under 
the  dominion  of  grace,  and  it  is  precisely  the  temper 
which  creates  zeal,  which  rouses  the  soul  to  the  gra- 
cious self-denyings  of  noble  doing  for  the  sake  of 
God  and  his  truth,  to  a  bold  resistance  of  what  is 
wrong,  and  an  enthusiastic  pursuit  of  what  is  good."  ^ 

1  Deau  Hook. 


160  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

Some  people  are  constitutionally  irritable,  possess- 
ing a  morbid  sensibility  which  the  slightest  word  or 
act  is  sufficient  to  kindle  into  anger.  The  powder 
is  always  there,  and  needs  but  a  chance  spark  to  pro- 
duce the  explosion.  A  single  sentence,  a  gesture,  a 
look,  will  set  the  soul  ablaze ;  and  then  every  little 
circumstance  adds  fuel  to  the  flame,  and  the  result  is 
a  mighty  conflagration.  Such  passionate  persons  are 
never  happy ;  they  cherish  a  serpent  in  their  breasts, 
which  is  always  stinging  and  tormenting  them.  Nor 
can  others  well  be  happy  in  their  company;  the 
wormwood  of  their  cup  is  ever  overflowing  into  that 
of  their  friends  and  neighbors.  There  is  no  cause  of 
misery  more  prolific  than  an  irascible  temper,  as  an 
old  English  divine  has  told  us  a  little  better  than 
any  other  I  recollect  to  have  read  on  the  subject :  — 

"  Anger  sets  the  house  on  fire,  and  all  the  spirits 
are  busy  upon  trouble,  and  intend  propulsion  and 
defence,  displeasure  and  revenge.  It  is  a  short  mad- 
ness, and  an  eternal  enemy  to  discourse,  and  sober 
counsels,  and  fair  conversation.  It  is  a  fever  in  the 
heart,  and  a  calenture  in  the  head,  and  a  fire  in 
the  face,  and  a  sword  in  the  hand,  and  a  fury  all 
over.  It  hath  in  it  the  trouble  of  sorrow,  and  the 
heats  of  lust,  and  the  disease  of  revenge,  and  the 
bodings  of  fear,  and  the  rashness  of  precipitancy, 
and  the  disturbances  of  persecution.  If  it  proceed 
from  a  great  cause,  it  turns  to  fury ;  if  from  a  small 
cause,  it  is  peevishness ;  and  so  it  is  always  terrible 
or  ridiculous.  It  makes  a  man's  body  deformed  and 
contemptible,  the  voice  horrid,  the  eyes  cruel,  the 
face  fiery,  and  the  gait  fierce.     It  is  neither  manly 


CHAEITY  NOT  IRRITABLE.  161 

nor  ingenuous,  and  is  a  passion  fitter  for  flies  and 
wasps  than  for  persons  professing  nobleness  and 
bounty.  It  is  the  confluence  of  all  irregular  pas- 
sions. There  is  in  it  envy  and  scorn,  fear  and 
sorrow,  pride  and  prejudice,  rejoicing  in  evil  and  a 
desire  to  inflict  it."  ^ 

"  Charity  is  not  easily  provoked."  Its  very  nature 
is  "  good- will  toward  men."  To  all  selfish  and  ma- 
levolent feelings,  it  is  as  much  opposed  as  water  is  to 
fire.  It  cannot  be  irritated  without  sufficient  cause, 
nor  exasperated  beyond  the  bounds  of  reason.  Long- 
suffering,  it  bears  meekly  all  insults  and  injuries. 
Full  of  kindness,  it  deals  gently  and  generously  even 
with  the  unthankful  and  the  evil.  Humble  in  spirit, 
it  thinks  very  little  of  its  invaded  prerogative  and  its 
wounded  honor.  Modest  in  demeanor,  it  exacts  from 
others  no  undue  deference  nor  unreasonable  esteem. 
Courteous  toward  all  men,  it  labors  to  correct  the 
natural  asperities  of  temper,  and  soften  the  manners 
into  the  sweetest  amenity.  Curbing  all  impetuous 
tendencies,  it  gives  Reason  time  to  interpose  her 
counsels,  and  Conscience  to  assert  her  sovereignty. 
Aiming  to  promote  the  glory  of  God,  it  elevates  the 
soul  above  all  selfish,  narrow,  grovelling,  and  unwor- 
thy ends.  Concerning  itself  for  the  welfare  and  hap- 
piness of  others,  it  will  not  willingly  do  them  a 
wrong,  nor  afflict  them  by  the  exhibition  of  an  un- 
lovely temper.  Judging  alwaj^s  ingenuously  and 
magnanimously,  many  things  offensive  it  never  no- 
tices at  all,  and  others  it  deems  too  trivial  for  its 
1  Jeremy  Taylor. 


162  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

resentment.  Destroying  in  the  heart  the  very  germs 
of  suspicion  and  censoriousness,  kind  thoughts  and 
generous  estimates  become  natural  and  easy ;  and 
when  it  can  no  longer  suggest  palliations  and  apolo- 
gies for  those  who  have  done  us  harm,  it  whispers  us 
like  an  angel  to  pity  their  weakness  and  pardon  their 
wickedness. 

Therefore  saith  the  great  Hebrew  sage,  "Cease 
from  anger,  and  forsake  wrath ;  fret  not  thyself  in 
any  wise  to  do  evil."  Nay,  listen  to  an  inspired 
Christian  counsellor:  "Let  all  bitterness,  and  wrath, 
and  anger,  and  clamor,  and  evil  speaking,  be  put 
away  from  you,  with  all  malice;  and  be  ye  kind 
one  to  another,  pitiful,  tender-hearted,  forgiving  one 
another  if  any  man  have  a  quarrel  against  any  — 
even  as  Christ  forgave  you,  so  also  do  ye."  What 
beautiful  advice  !  What  heavenly  wisdom !  Well 
says  the  greatest  literary  genius  of  Germany :  "  The 
angel  who  has  never  felt  anger  has  reason  to  envy 
the  man  who  subdues  it.  When  thou  forgivest,  he 
who  has  pierced  thy  heart  is  to  thee  as  the  sea-worm 
that  perforates  the  shell  of  the  mussel,  which  straight- 
way closes  the  wound  with  a  pearl !  "  i 

1  Jean  Paul. 


CHAEITY  NOT  CENSOEIOUS.  163 


XIII. 

CHARITY  NOT  CENSORIOUS. 

Charity  thinketh  no  evil.  —  1  Cor.  xiii.  6. 

Some  of  you  may  have  read  a  somewhat  popular 
work  of  Mrs.  Charles,  entitled  "  Kitty  Trevylyan." 
If  so,  you  cannot  fail  to  have  remarked  the  character 
of  Kitty's  Aunt  Henderson,  —  a  very  suggestive  and 
instructive  one,  but  also  a  very  defective  and  faulty. 
Aunt  Henderson's  conversation  consisted  chiefly  in 
compassionate  animadversions  upon  the  foibles  and 
infirmities  of  her  neighbors.  In  this,  of  course,  she 
was  perfectly  conscientious ;  thinking  it  a  matter  of 
much  importance,  that  we  should  observe  the  follies 
and  errors  of  others,  in  order  to  learn  wisdom  and 
prudence  from  them. 

Now  Aunt  Henderson  is  scarcely  an  imaginary 
personage.  The  world  is  full  of  just  such  people, 
who  seem  to  regard  the  rest  of  mankind  as  a  set  of 
defective  specimens  expressly  designed  to  teach  them 
moral  perfection,  just  as  children  at  school  have  un- 
grammatical  sentences  placed  before  them  to  teach 
them  grammar.  But  I  cannot  help  thinking,  with 
Kitty,  that  the  children  may  learn  more  from  the 
correct  sentences  than  from  the  incorrect,  and  that 
it  is  far  more  pleasant  to  have  the  beautiful  right 


164  PAULINE   CHARITY. 

thing  before  one  than  the  failure ;  nor  can  I  believe, 
any  more  than  she,  that  others  are  sent  into  the  world 
to  be  a  sort  of  example  of  error  and  imperfection, 
even  to  make  Aunt  Henderson  and  other  conscien- 
tious people  of  the  same  kind  quite  perfect  by  the 
contrast. 

Aunt  Henderson  and  her  followers  seem  to  be  the 
very  opposite  of  St.  Paul's  charity  in  this  chapter ; 
for  they  enjoy  a  sort  of  selfish  gratification  in  the 
mistakes  and  misdoings  of  their  neighbors,  and 
dwell  upon  them  with  a  malicious  self-complaceney  of 
which  they  are  scarcely  conscious ;  while  it  is  among 
the  most  conspicuous  qualities  of  charity,  and  by  no 
means  the  least  beautiful  of  the  portraiture,  that  she 
"  thinketh  no  evil ; "  or,  according  to  the  Revised 
Version,  "  taketh  not  account  of  evil." 

What  is  here  denied  of  charity  is  usually  called 
censoriousness.  No  vice  is  more  common ;  and  few, 
if  any,  are  more  mischievous.  We  are  guilty  of  it 
when  we  rashly  condemn  the  motives  of  others,  offi- 
ciously blame  what  we  do  not  understand,  suspect 
evil  intentions  where  none  are  manifest,  or  judge 
unfavorably  of  character  upon  false  or  insufficient 
grounds.  We  are  guilty  of  it  when  we  impute  crimi- 
nality to  mere  mistake  or  error ;  when  we  reprobate 
a  person's  conduct  because  we  dislike  his  friends  or 
his  party;  when  we  take  a^single  act,  which  is  not 
habitual  but  exceptional,  as  the  sure  evidence  of  a 
corrupt  and  wicked  heart ;  when,  like  Job's  three 
visitors,  we  denounce  a  man  for  an  evil-doer  on 
account  of  his  misfortunes,  interpreting  God's  gra- 


CHARITY  NOT   CENSOEIOUS.  165 

cious  discipline  into  the  condign  punishment  of  sin  ; 
or  when,  by  the  bitter  memory  of  some  injury  he 
may  formerly  have  done  ourselves  or  others,  we  are 
blinded  to  his  present  good  intentions,  and  made  in- 
capable of  perceiving  the  virtuous  aims  and  impulses 
of  a  life  in  the  main  well-pleasing  to  God. 

Clearly,  in  such  cases,  we  go  beyond  our  province, 
and  assume  the  awful  prerogatives  of  the  omniscient 
Searcher  of  hearts.  And  undertaking  what  we  are 
incapable  of,  we  fall  into  great  errors,  wronging  our 
neighbors  and  doing  immeasurable  harm.  And  with 
all  this,  has  malice  nothing  to  do?  So  much, 
indeed,  that  censoriousness  is  ordinarily  the  very 
essence  of  malice ;  and  Conybeare  and  Howson's 
rendering  of  the  text  is  —  "  Love  bears  no  malice." 

For  such  a  spirit,  who  will  seek  any  justification, 
or  plead  any  necessity  ?  Were  it  not  better  to  think 
kindly  of  our  neighbors,  and  judge  them  more  in- 
genuously ?  Why  arraign  their  conduct  without 
cause,  and  condemn  their  action  without  evidence  ? 
Why  not  rather  suspect  the  imperfection  of  our  own 
understanding,  and  question  the  righteousness  of  so 
hasty  a  decision  ?  Why  not  suppose  that  the  deed 
we  disapprove  was  the  issue  of  an  unintentional 
mistake?  Why  not  impute  the  error  more  to  the 
head  than  to  the  heart  ?  Why  not  believe  the  per- 
son honest  and  sincere  till  we  certainly  know  to  the 
contrary  ?  And  when  shall  we  arrive  at  that  certain 
knowledge  ?  Never,  perhaps,  till  the  dread  disclosures 
of  the  last  day.  "  Therefore,"  saith  the  apostle,  "judge 
nothing  before  the  time,  until  the  Lord  come,  who 
shall  both  bring  to  light  the  hidden  things  of  dark- 


166  PAULINE  CHAKITY. 

ness  and  make  manifest  the  counsels  of  the  heart." 
In  the  present  imperfect  state  of  our  knowledge, 
and  with  our  present  infirmities  and  uncertainties 
of  judgment,  to  impute  to  another  an  evil  motive  or 
a  wicked  heart,  when  there  is  any  possible  chance 
of  purity  and  uprightness,  is  to  commit  a  very 
serious  breach  of  that  charity  which  "thinketh  no 
evil." 

Some  censorious  people  go  so  far  as  to  pronounce 
upon  the  state  of  a  man's  soul  in  the  sight  of  God, 
reprobating  the  living  and  damning  the  dead.  But 
who  can  read  his  neighbor's  heart?  Are  not  the 
wisest  and  shrewdest  observers  often  misled  by  out- 
ward appearances?  Do  we  not  all  know  that  a  man 
may  talk  lucidly  of  personal  religion  while  he  is  living 
an  utterly  irreligious  life  —  may  speak  beautifully  of 
Christian  humility  while  he  is  full  to  overflowing 
of  spiritual  pride  —  may  descant  eloquently  on  the 
fruits  of  the  Spirit  while  he  is  practising  the  most 
abominable  works  of  the  flesh  —  may  seem  to  de- 
spise his  own  righteousness  as  filthy  rags  while  he 
is  puffed  up  well-nigh  to  bursting  with  self-compla- 
cency—  may  emphasize  the  confession  of  his  sins 
every  Lord's-day  morning  in  the  Litany  without  one 
emotion  of  true  contrition  or  purpose  of  practical 
reformation?  The  more  one  sees  of  the  so-called 
religious  world,  the  more  must  he  be  convinced  of 
the  impossibility  of  judging  with  any  certainty  of 
another's  spiritual  state  from  his  discourse,  profes- 
sion, or  other  external  manifestation.  And  if  we 
may  err  by  forming  too  favorable  an  estimate,  are 


CHARITY  NOT   CENSOEIOUS.  167 

we  not  more  likely,  from  the  evil  tendency  of  our 
own  hearts,  to  err  in  the  opposite  direction  ?  If  we 
are  liable  to  be  too  lenient  in  our  opinions  and  too 
generous  in  our  judgments,  do  we  not  oftener  fail, 
from  the  habitual  indulgence  of  a  censorious  spirit, 
to  make  due  allowances  for  our  brethren  ? 

And  being  unable  to  decide  with  any  certainty 
upon  the  real  character  of  the  living,  how  shall  we 
presume  to  determine  the  condition  of  the  dead? 
How  impious,  to  intrude  into  the  province  of  the 
omniscient  Judge,  and  pronounce  the  doom  of 
the  departed  soul !  God  has  expressly  prohibited 
all  speculations  in  this  direction;  and  of  the  many 
wicked  people  mentioned  in  Holy  Scripture,  noth- 
ing is  distinctly  revealed  of  their  state  in  the  other 
world;  and  of  the  vilest  of  them  all,  it  is  only 
vaguely  said  he  died  "  that  he  might  go  to  his  own 
place ; "  and  Christ  has  given  us  but  one  terrific 
picture  of  a  hopeless  reprobate  "  lifting  up  his  eyes 
in  hell."  Between  us  and  the  dead  hangs  an  im- 
penetrable veil;  and  the  abode  of  those  who  have 
left  "this  house  of  clay  "  is  truly  a  terra  incognita  — 

"  A  land  of  deepest  shade, 
Unpierced  by  human  thought "  — 

from  whose  bourn  no  messenger  has  come  to  tell 
us  who  are  saved  and  who  are  lost.  Therefore, 
when  we  undertake  to  judge  the  heart  of  the  living 
and  pronounce  the  doom  of  the  dead,  we  are  invad- 
ing the  sovereign  prerogative  of  Almighty  God,  as 
well  as  violating  that  charity  which  "thinketh  no 
evil." 


168  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

Sad  indeed  it  is  to  know  that  these  explanations 
and  arguments  are  rendered  necessary  by  so  many 
melancholy  facts.  What  one  of  my  hearers  is  not 
acquainted  with  people  who  are  always  forming  un- 
favorable opinions  of  others,  and  often  expressing 
those  opinions  without  any  apparent  concern  about 
the  consequences  of  their  own  indiscretion?  They 
look  upon  everybody  with  suspicion,  as  if  they 
deemed  the  world  nothing  but  a  concourse  of  dis- 
guised scoundrels.  A  very  small  circumstance  is  to 
them  a  sufficient  indication  of  insincerity,  and  the 
slightest  inadvertency  is  set  down  as  a  demonstration 
of  radical  wickedness.  The  soundness  of  your  faith 
they  question  because  you  happen  to  differ  with 
them  in  some  matter  of  opinion  quite  unimportant 
to  Christiatiity.  Your  worship  may  be  as  hearty 
and  as  spiritual  as  their  own ;  yet,  because  you  do 
not  conform  perfectly  to  their  ritual,  you  are  de- 
nounced as  a  Romanizer  or  a  schismatic.  They 
judge  all  by  their  own  standard,  measure  all  by 
their  own  iron  bedstead,  and  make  no  account  of 
the  modifying  influences  of  education  and  society. 
Even  the  fatherl}*  chastisements  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence they  ignorant.ly  or  perversely  misinterpret; 
and,  like  Job's  miserable  comforters,  pronounce  the 
metal  spurious  because  it  has  been  submitted  to 
the  furnace.  If  the  motive  of  an  act  is  not  perfectly 
obvious,  they  are  apt  to  give  it  a  bad  construction, 
though  a  good  one  were  quite  as  easy.  A  general 
remark  is  made  in  company,  and  some  one  present 
thinks  it  applicable  to  himself,  and  forthwith  angrily 
appropriates  it,  though   the   speaker  had  no   more 


CHARITY  NOT   CENSORIOUS.  169 

thouglit  of  him  than  of  Julius  Csesar.  Absorbed  in 
meditation  or  conversation,  you  unconsciously  pass  an 
acquaintance  in  the  street  without  speaking  to  him, 
and  the  casual  oversight  is  set  down  against  you  as 
an  intentional  incivility.  I  recollect  once  to  have 
given  lasting  ofPence  by  failing  to  recognize  on  the 
instant  an  old  friend  whom  I  had  not  met  for  many 
years,  though  I  was  never  in  my  life  more  innocent 
of  unfriendly  intention.  On  another  occasion  I  in- 
curred the  displeasure  of  a  lady  by  my  inability  to 
identify  her  behind,  a  veil,  which  rendered  her  face 
as  invisible  as  the  moon  in  a  total  eclipse,  and  the 
crime  I  believe  was  never  forgiven. 

Censorious  people  commonly  see  motes  in  others' 
eyes  through  beams  in  their  own,  and  none  are  more 
to  be  suspected  than  those  who  are  always  suspect- 
ing their  neighbors.  Their  knowledge  of  human 
nature  is  obtained  at  home,  and  their  fears  of  you 
are  only  the  reflected  images  of  their  own  evil 
hearts.  They  resemble  the  surlj^  mastiff,  that  sidles 
growling  toward  the  mirror,  mistaking  his  own  like- 
ness for  a  foe.  Full  of  evil  surmisings,  they  cannot 
afford  to  suspend  their  judgment  and  wait  for  ex- 
planation or  evidence ;  but,  impelled  by  the  bad 
spirit  within  them,  they  rush  blindly  to  the  bench 
and  thunder  forth  their  anathema  against  the  sup- 
posed delinquent.  How  eagerly  they  take  up  an 
evil  report,  and  how  industriously  they  circulate 
it !  Hearing  a  vague  rumor,  than  which  nothing  is 
more  uncertain  in  such  a  world  as  this,  they  believe 
without  a  particle  of  evidence,  and  never  take  the 
trouble  to  inquire  into  the  grounds  of  the  suspicion ; 


170  PAULINE   CHARITY. 

but  roll  the  delicious  slander  as  a  sweet  morsel  under 
their  tongues,  and  feed  on  the  imaginary  imperfec- 
tion of  their  neighbors  with  the  zest  of  a  vulture 
upon  the  slain. 

Among  the  prohibitions  of  the  Mosaic  code  is  this 
—  "Thou  shalt  not  curse  the  deaf."  But  why  the 
deaf,  and  not  the  blind,  the  lame,  the  maimed,  the  de- 
formed, the  leprous,  or  the  lunatic?  Because  the 
deaf  cannot  hear  what  is  said  against  them,  and 
therefore  cannot  defend  or  exculpate  themselves. 
To  attack  a  defenceless  person  is  as  unjust  as  it  is 
cowardly  and  cruel.  But  is  not  this  generally  the 
manner  of  the  vice  in  question*^  Censoriousness 
ordinarily  assails  the  absent,  who  can  neither  vindi- 
cate himself  nor  silence  the  slanderous  tongue.  It 
is  the  part  of  the  traitor.  It  is  the  adder  biting  the 
heel  of  the  passenger.  It  is  the  house-dog  barking 
bravely  at  the  traveller  he  has  not  the  courage  to 
pursue.  Were  the  injured  person  present  to  speak 
for  himself,  the  villanous  tongue  had  doubtless  ob- 
served an  exemplary  silence,  or  praised  the  very 
thing  it  has  so  unsparingly  denounced. 

To  a  woman  who  had  been  doing  no  little  of  this 
devil's-work,  her  confessor  gave  a  quantity  of  thistle- 
seed,  bidding  her  go  out  and  scatter  it  on  the  wind, 
and  then  come  back  to  him  for  further  penance. 
When  she  returned  and  reported  her  execution  of 
the  order,  he  told  her  to  go  and  gather  it  all  up 
again  and  bring  it  back  to  him.  "  Oh !  but  that  is 
impossible,"  replied  the  fair  penitent:  "it  is  gone; 
it  can  never  be   recovered."     "  Let  this  teach  you, 


CHARITY  NOT   CENSOEIOUS.  171 

then,"  rejoined  the  faithful  priest,  "  that  the  words 
you  have  spoken  can  never  be  recalled,  and  the  in- 
jury they  have  done  can  never  be  repaired."  Let  us 
profit  by  the  lesson,  and  correct  a  censorious  habit, 
which  may  easily  destroy  the  best  reputation,  but 
can  never  restore  what  it  has  ruined.  As  the  magi- 
cians of  Egypt,  it  is  said,  imitated  Moses  and  Aaron 
in  turning  their  rods  into  serpents,  but  were  not  able 
to  turn  the  serpents  again  into  rods ;  so  a  censorious 
spirit  can  make  an  evil  thing  out  of  a  good,  but  can- 
not recover  the  good  again  out  of  the  evil.  It  can 
make  an  honest  man  look  like  a  villain,  a  sober  man 
like  a  drunkard,  a  modest  man  like  a  libertine,  a 
devout  man  like  a  hypocrite ;  but  what  power  has 
it  to  revive  the  fair  fame  it  has  blasted,  and  undo 
the  terrible  mischief  it  has  done  ?  The  poison  once 
poured  upon  the  wind  can  never  be  recalled.  Your 
evil  surmise  is  readily  received  by  others  as  censo- 
rious as  yourself ;  your  whispered  suspicion  is  taken 
up  by  a  hundred  willing  tongues,  and  confirmod  and 
magnified  by  a  thousand  more,  till  it  becomes  a  com- 
mon report  which  no  one  dares  to  doubt ;  but  when, 
convinced  of  your  error  and  sorry  for  your  impru- 
dence, you  wish  to  retract  or  modify  your  statement, 
you  speak  to  averted  ears  and  minds  already  preju- 
diced. The  remedy  comes  too  late  ;  the  poison  has 
done  its  work.  You  have  made  the  serpent ;  you 
cannot  remake  the  rod. 

The  injury  inflicted  upon  the  censured  person, 
however,  is  not  the  greatest  3vil  resulting  from  cen- 
soriousness.  That  which  is  done  to  the  listeners  is 
often  much  greater.     A  stumbling-block  is  placed  in 


172  PAULINE   CHARITY. 

the  way  of  their  Christian  progress,  or  an  impetus 
is  given  to  hurry  them  on  to  hell.  If  they  are  good 
people,  though  disgusted  at  the  despicable  censor, 
the  poison  will  produce  its  baleful  effect  upon  them 
—  suspicion,  alienation,  active  hostility,  resulting  in 
incalculable  and  incurable  mischief.  If  they  are 
bad  people,  they  are  encouraged  and  strengthened 
in  their  wickedness,  and  their  unruly  tongues  are 
set  on  fire  of  hell ;  and  for  the  dishonor  thus  done 
to  religion,  Philistia  will  rejoice  and  the  uncircum- 
cised  will  triumph;  and  the  scattered  thistle-seed 
will  multiply  its  evil  harvest  year  by  year,  defa- 
cing and  encumbering  the  heritage  of  the  Lord,  till 
the  angels  of  vengeance  descend  to  bind  the  hateful 
product  for  the  burning.  Thus  the  shaft  aimed  at 
one  inflicts  a  fatal  wound  upon  many;  the  torch 
applied  to  your  neighbor's  barn  devours  the  bread 
of  a  thousand  families. 

Nor  is  this  the  worst.  Who  shall  describe  the 
harm  the  censorious  person  does  to  himself,  draw- 
ing upon  his  own  head  from  eYexj  quarter  distrust, 
hatred,  infamy,  and  retribution?  For  who  will  not 
dread  the  venom  of  his  tongue,  and  avoid  him  as 
one  would  avoid  a  viper  ?  And  how  can  God  toler- 
ate what  is  so  repugnant  to  his  nature,  his  precepts, 
and  the  spirit  of  the  gospel?  How  can  he  look  but 
with  anger  upon  that  which  is  so  hostile  to  the 
interests  of  his  kingdom,  so  destructive  of  the  peace 
and  good  order  of  his  family,  so  ruinous  to  myriads 
of  immortal  beings  redeemed  with  the  blood  of  his 
beloved  Son  ?  And  has  not  the  offender  reason  to 
fear  that,  in  judgment  for  his  wickedness,  he  will  be 


CHARITY  NOT   CENSORIOUS.  173 

left  to  fall  into  the  very  sins  he  has  so  mercilessly 
denounced,  or  others  which  are  still  greater?  Nay, 
who  can  say  that  he  is  not  already  quite  as  bad  as 
the  person  whose  faults  and  infirmities  constitute  the 
theme  of  his  hateful  animadversions  ?  Are  not  they 
who,  like  frogs  in  the  mire,  lie  buried  in  their  own 
habitual  uncleanness,  usually  the  loudest  croakers 
and  clamorers  against  jothers,  as  if  they  delighted  in 
casting  upon  every  passer-by  the  reproach  of  their 
own  dishonor  ?  The  good  are  ever  most  inclined  to 
think  well  of  their  neighbors;  while  the  vile  and  the 
vicious,  not  satisfied  with  the  faults  they  see,  ima- 
gine others  which  have  no  existence.  They  observe 
every  thing,  suspect  everybody,  and  will  be  per- 
suaded of  their  neighbors  nothing  but  the  worst. 
Never  bridling  the  unruly  tongue,  but  making  a  jest 
of  human  infirmity,  and  often  scourging  virtue  in- 
stead of  vice,  they  burden  their  conscience  with  a 
fearful  accumulation  of  guilt.  And  shall  those  who 
thus  unjustly  judge  others  escape  the  righteous  judg- 
ment of  God?  Have  they  not  reason  to  fear  the 
punishment  of  the  impious  men  who,  in  the  camp, 
spake  against  Moses  and  Aaron?  A  sad,  sad  thing 
it  is,  to  be  so  busy  with  the  faults  of  others  as  utterly 
to  forget  our  own  !  Is  life  so  long  that  we  can  afford 
to  waste  so  much  of  it  in  this  uncharitable  way? 
Shall  we  be  like  wandering  Esaus,  spending  the  live- 
long day  abroad,  with  quiver  and  bow  chasing  some- 
body's rumored  or  imagined  sins?  Let  us  rather 
tarry  with  Jacob  at  home,  in  all  godly  simplicity 
exemplifying  the  apostle's  declaration  —  "Charity 
thinketh  no  evil," 


174  PAULINE  CHAKITY. 

Of  the  fault  against  which  I  preach  there  is,  I 
fear,  far  too  much  among  some  people  who  are  in 
most  other  respects  very  good  Christians.  To  decide 
on  human  character  is  the  prerogative  of  Jehovah, 
and  requires  Jehovah's  attributes;  and  the  imputa- 
tion of  bad  motive  or  intentional  wrong,  without 
good  and  sufficient  evidence,  is  a  sin  equally  against 
God  and  man.  Tl:iere  may  be  much  wheat  in  the 
flour,  though  we  see  only  the  chaff.  The  diamond 
lies  hidden  in  the  sand,  and  the  pearl  in  the  depths 
of  the  sea.  We  cannot  know  the  heart  of  our  neigh- 
bor; let  us  look  more  carefully  into  our  own.  A 
fearful  thing  it  is,  to  erect  our  own  opinion  and  expe- 
rience as  the  standard  and  test  for  others,  and  deny 
all  true  religion  to  those  who  fall  short  of  our  meas- 
ure. Nothing  could  be  more  repugnant  to  charity, 
and  every  one  of  the  amiable  qualities  of  charity  set 
forth  in  this  chapter  stands  opposed  to  such  a  prac- 
tice. As  self-love  makes  us  think  well  of  ourselves, 
so  charity  makes  us  think  well  of  our  brethren. 
Judge  unkindly  it  cannot ;  condemn  officiously  it 
never  will.  Upon  every  thing  said  or  done,  it  puts 
the  best  construction  possible  in  the  case.  No  evil 
report  will  it  believe  without  evidence ;  no  test  of 
character  will  it  accept  but  that  which  God  hath 
ordained;  no  folloAver  of  Christ  will  it  discard  be- 
cause his  views  and  feelings  do  not  quadrate  in  all 
respects  with  its  own.  To  mere  surmise  and  rumor 
it  will  not  listen  for  a  moment ;  and  from  the  mali- 
cious whispers  of  the  tale-bearer  it  averts  its  ear 
with  a  holy  disgust.  When  forced  to  believe  evil  of 
another,  it  accepts  the  fact  with  manifest  reluctance, 


CHARITY   NOT   CENSORIOUS.  175 

takes  no  pleasure  in  reporting  it,  finds  many  a  pal- 
liation for  the  offence,  and  spreads  its  broad  mantle 
over  the  multitude  of  sins.  To  talk  of  the  good  of 
its  neighbors  is  its  special  delight,  to  set  forth  their 
virtues  and  commend  their  worthy  deeds.  In  every 
opportunity  of  communicating  pleasure  it  rejoices 
with  unfeigned  JDy,  and  with  instinctive  horror 
slirinks  from  inflicting  needless  pain.  The  counsels 
of  avarice  and  ambition  it  opposes  with  all  its 
might;  and  by  every  mild  and  gracious  means  at 
its  command  counteracts  the  deadly  influence  of 
pride,  envy,  anger,  malice,  and  revenge.  Stemming 
the  torrents  of  vice  and  error,  it  seeks  to  rescue  the 
perish  uig  and  edify  the  faithful  —  to  make  the  mis- 
erable happy,  and  the  happy  happier  still.  In  the 
closet  it  originates  schemes  for  blessing  humanity, 
and  goes  forth  into  society  for  their  execution.  At 
night  it  devises  deeds  of  mercy  upon  its  bed,  and  in 
the  morning  rises  radiant  as  the  dawn  to  perform  the 
benevolent  purposes  with  which  it  sank  to  rest.^  By 
every  act,  and  every  word,  and  every  look,  and  every 
exhibition  of  its  character,  at  home  and  abroad,  in 
public  and  in  private,  surrounded  by  friends  or  men- 
aced by  foes,  without  limitation  or  qualification,  it 
sustains  the  apostle's  statement  —  "Charity  think- 
eth  no  evil." 

1  J.  A.  James.  ^ 


176  PAULINE  CHARITY. 


XIV. 

CHARITY  TRUE  TO  RIGHTEOUSNESS. 


Charity  rejoiceth  not  in  iniquity,  but  rejoiceth  in  the  truth. — 
1  Cor.  xiii.  6. 


"But  what  has  charity  to  do  with  joy?  What 
room  is  there  for  rejoicing  in  that  meek  and  lowly 
spirit,  that  gentle  and  forbearing  temper,  that  patient 
and  much-enduring  virtue,  which  has  already  been 
described  as  utterly  forgetful  of  self  and  wholly 
occupied  with  the  griefs  and  burdens  and  interests 
of  others?  That  we  ought,  indeed,  to  lead  such  a 
life,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  The  law  of  Christ  re- 
quires it,  and  the  several  social  relations  strongly 
enforce  the  obligation.  But  what  is  there  in  it  of 
enjoyment,  what  lofty  exhilaration  of  spirit,  what 
thrills  of  pleasurable  emotion,  to  repay  the  heavy 
task  of  duty,  sympathy,  and  habitual  self-denial  ?  " 

So  might  the  carnal  and  selfish  man  inquire  —  so 
might  the  cold-hearted  and  un spiritual-minded  rea- 
son—  on  reading  these  words  of  the  apostle.  Of  the 
love  here  portrayed  he  practically  knows  nothing, 
and  cannot  appreciate  its  action  in  others.  To  him, 
unquestionably,  its  law  would  be  a  burden ;  and  an 
attempted  conformity  to  its  requirement,  an  intol- 
erable slavery  of  the  soul. 


CHARITY  TRUE  TO  RIGHTEOUSNESS.  177 

But  here  lies  the  special  mystery  of  love.  This 
spirit  of  holy  sympathy  and  brotherly  helpfulness, 
caring  so  tenderly  for  others,  and  weeping  with  them 
that  weep,  affords  a  refined  joy,  a  noble  satisfaction, 
a  sustaining  consciousness  of  the  pure  and  the  good, 
which  has  in  it  more  of  heaven  than  of  earth,  and 
like  the  new  name  in  the  white  stone  is  known  only 
to  its  possessor. 

What  charity  is,  in  its  essence  and  some  of  its 
chief  qualities,  we  have  already  seen ;  and  now,  if 
we  consider  what  iniquity  is,  and  what  the  apostle 
here  intends  by  the  truth,  it  will  be  easy  to  under- 
stand how  charity  must  rejoice  in  the  latter,  but 
cannot  rejoice  in  the  former. 

The  Latin  word  iiiiquitas  is  from  in  —  the  negative 
particle,  and  aequus  —  which  means  even  or  equal. 
The  term  expresses,  therefore,  unevenness  or  ine- 
qualit}^  —  a  want  of  rectitude  or  moral  principle.  It 
is  the  equivalent  of  injustice  or  wickedness  —  that 
which  is  wrong  in  itself  and  injurious  in  its  effects. 
In  its  ordinary  acceptation,  iniquity  is  dishonesty, 
hypocrisy,  unfair  dealing,  deceitful  practice,  whether 
toward  God  or  man.  In  its  largest  comprehension, 
as  here  used  by  St.  Paul,  it  is  the  great  falsehood 
brought  in  by  the  father  of  lies,  antagonizing  the 
goodness  of  the  Creator  and  working  infinite  evil 
to  his  creatures.  Warring  against  the  love  of  God, 
it  tends  to  subvert  his  authority  and  spread  disorder 
and  anarchy  throughout  his  empire.  Left  to  work 
out  its  legitimate  effect  without  restraint  or  remedy, 
it  would  stanch  effectually  the  fountain   of  being 


178  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

and  of  blessing  by  terminating  the  reign  of  infinite 
wisdom  and  benevolence.  How,  then,  can  charity- 
rejoice  in  iniquity?  Desiring  the  welfare  of  an  intel- 
ligent univei'se,  how  can  she  rejoice  in  that  which 
must  result  only  in  wretchedness  and  ruin?  Sym- 
pathizing in  the  gracious  purposes  of  God's  good  will 
to  man,  how  can  she  rejoice  in  that  which  aims  to 
thwart  his  merciful  designs  and  curse  his  human 
family  ?  Devoting  her  energies  with  self-sacrificing 
zeal  to  the  highest  good  of  others,  how  can  she  re- 
joice in  that  which  disturbs  their  peace,  pollutes 
their  consciences,  desolates  the  happiest  households, 
infects  with  fatal  maladies  the  very  heart  of  society, 
and  turns  the  paradise  of  our  probation  into  a  des- 
ert, a  charnel,  and  a  hell  ? 

Now  the  truth,  in  this  apostolic  use  of  the  term, 
is  the  exact  opposite  of  iniquity,  and  therefore  the 
legitimate  object  of  charity's  rejoicing.  Our  English 
word  "truth"  is  a  modification  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
treowe^  corresponding  to  the  German  treu  and  the 
Danish  ti^o  ;  all  indicating  that  which  is  fixed,  set- 
tled, solid,  certain,  constant,  according  to  fact  or 
reality,  to  be  confidently  believed  and  relied  upon. 
The  truth  by  pre-eminence  is  God's  gracious  revela- 
tion to  man  contained  in  his  written  word.  The 
truth  in  human  practice  and  human  character  is 
conformity  of  heart  and  life  to  the  principles  and 
requirements  of  that  revelation.  In  the  broadest 
and  sublimest  significance  of  the  term,  then,  the 
truth  is  moral  virtue,  obedience  to  the  supreme  Will, 
the  image  of  the  Divine  excellence  reflected  in  the 
creature.     It  is  the  antagonist   of  iniquity,  which 


CHAEITY  TRUE  TO  RIGHTEOUSNESS.         '179 

shall  ultimately  drive  it  out  of  the  universe ;  the 
dayspring  from  on  high,  which  must  dispel  the  dark- 
ness that  covers  the  earth  and  the  gross  darkness 
that  envelopes  the  people.  It  is  an  efflux  of  the 
wisdom,  the  goodness,  the  mercy,  the  justice,  and 
the  holiness  of  God;  the  spirit  of  heaven  walking 
the  earth,  and  scattering  its  blessings  like  the  dews 
of  the  niglit  or  the  beams  of  the  morning.  And  if 
charity  is  love,  must  she  not  necessarily  rejoice  in 
that  which  is  so  manifestly  promotive  of  the  welfare 
of  mankind  —  which  ennobles  and  purifies  their  spir- 
its, and  secures  for  them  the  Divine  approval  and 
complacency  —  which  effects  their  deliverance  from 
evil  passions  and  vicious  habits,  their  escape  from 
the  despicable  tyranny  of  sin  and  Satan,  and  their 
return  to  the  primeval  innocence  and  blessedness  of 
their  being  —  which  must  issue  in  the  perfect  dis- 
inthralment  of  millions  upon  millions  of  the  human 
race,  the  ultimate  establishment  of  Jehovah's  taber- 
nacle with  men,  the  extermination  of  sin  with  its  in- 
numerable train  of  sorrows  and  calamities,  and  the 
conversion  of  this  guilty  and  gloomy  planet  into  the 
redeemed  kingdom  of  the  Prince  of  peace  ? 

Charity,  therefore,  "  rejoiceth  not  in  iniquity,  but 
rejoiceth  in  the  truth."  Conybeare  and  Howson 
read  —  "Love  rejoices  not  in  the  punishment  of 
wickedness,  but  rejoices  in  the  victory  of  truth." 
Generally,  throughout  the  chapter,  the  translation 
of  these  critical  and  scholarly  commentators  sheds 
no  little  light  upon  the  Authorized  Version  by  bring- 
ing out  the  more  delicate  shades  of  meaning  in  the 
original.     In  this  instance,  however,  I  am  not  sure 


180  PAULINE   CHARITY. 

tliat  they  have  made  the  matter  any  clearer.  The 
Revised  Version  gives  us  —  "rejoiceth  not  in  un- 
righteousness, but  rejoiceth  with  the  truth."  What 
the  apostle  intended  to  say  seems  to  be  this  :  Charity 
neither  takes  pleasure  in  doing  wrong  itself,  nor  ex- 
ults in  the  wrong-doing  of  others ;  but  sympathizes 
with  the  truth  in  its  triumphs  over  iniquity,  rejoi- 
cing with  it  in  its  holy  and  benevolent  joy. 

There  are  those  —  and  we  all  know  them  —  men 
of  fair  repute,  not  generally  regarded  as  great  sin- 
ners against  society,  but  much  admired  and  ap- 
plauded for  their  shrewdness  and  success  in  business 
enterprise,  who  certainly  are  not  too  scrupulously 
just  in  the  methods  by  which  they  amass  their  mil- 
lions, and  build  up  a  fortune  for  themselves  on  the 
financial  ruin  of  others.  Congratulating  themselves 
and  one  another  on  the  cleverness  with  which  they 
have  achieved  their  purposes,  they  seem  utterly  in- 
different to  the  evils  they  have  inflicted  —  perhaps 
quite  unconsciously  —  upon  multitudes  of  their  fel- 
low-men. Not  gratified  at  these  sad  results,  they  are 
insensible  to  them ;  they  see  them  not,  nor  care  to 
see  them ;  so  absorbed  in  their  own  plans  and  inter- 
ests, that  they  never  think  —  will  not  allow  them- 
selves to  think  —  about  the  consequences  to  their 
neighbors.  But  is  this  insensibility  an  apology  for 
them?  Is  it  not  rather  their  special  condemnation 
and  their  shame?  For  what  right  have  rational 
beings  to  be  thoughtless,  social  beings  to  be  heart- 
less, moral  beings  to  be  reckless,  conscious  beings  to 
be  habitually  unconscious  of  their  own  iniquity  ? 


CHARITY  TRUE   TO   RIGHTEOUSNESS.  181 

Very  delicate  indeed  are  the  moral  sensibilities  of 
charity.  Very  acute  is  the  power  of  conscience  in 
the  heart  that  truly  and  divinely  loves.  To  such  a 
spirit  the  slightest  shade  of  injustice  becomes  pain- 
fully apparent.  Too  fine  it  is  —  too  pure  and  too 
noble  —  to  take  pleasure  in  any  thing  bearing  the 
least  taint  of  perversion  and  corruption.  The  truth, 
the  fundamental  contrary  of  iniquity,  the  inspiration 
and  strength  of  all  goodness,  the  chosen  oracle 
through  which  heaven  communicates  with  earth,  the 
divine  agency  ordained  for  quickening  and  purifying 
the  world  —  this  is  that  which  charity  rejoices  in, 
because  of  its  fitness,  congruity,  inestimable  value  to 
mankind,  as  the  prime  organ  and  energy  of  the  su- 
preme Will  for  curing  the  disorders  of  this  apostate 
planet;  for  what  is  the  truth,  in  its  ultimate  tri- 
umph, but  God  displayed,  humanity  restored,  and 
redeeming  love  reigning  over  a  happy  universe  ? 

Of  Gyges,  king  of  Lydia,  it  is  fabulously  related, 
that  he  wore  a  ring  which  enabled  him  to  become 
invisible  at  pleasure,  so  that  he  could  commit  any 
crime  without  shame  or  fear.  Some  sinners  might 
envy  Gyges  such  a  power,  and  wish  at  any  price  to 
purchase  his  magical  ring ;  but  there  are  others,  no 
doubt,  who  care  nothing  for  the  former,  and  would 
give  little  for  the  latter,  just  because  they  have  no 
desire  to  conceal  their  evil  deeds.  So  hardened  are 
they  in  their  vicious  practices,  that  they  are  neither 
afraid  nor  ashamed  to  indulge  in  them  before  all 
Israel  and  the  sun ;  talking  about  them,  jesting  upon 
them,  glorying  in  them,  making  a  public  exhibition 


182  PAULINE  CHAEITY. 

of  them,  as  if  they  thought  it  a  fine  thing  to  be 
wicked  and  an  honor  to  be  infamous.  Of  such  a 
one  the  Psalmist  demands :  "  Why  boastest  thou 
thyself  in  mischief,  O  mighty  man  ?  "  or  as  the  Vul- 
gate has  it,  "  Why  boastest  thou  thyself  in  thy  wick- 
edness, who  art  so  mighty  in  iniquity  ?  " 

But  is  not  this  passing  strange,  that  men  should 
glory  in  that  which  is  so  fraught  with  shame,  and 
rejoice  in  that  which  is  so  full  of  sorrow?  Search 
through  all  the  occupations  and  pursuits  of  the 
world,  and  where  will  you  find  one  proud  of  hav- 
ing committed  an  error  in  his  business  or  failed  in 
the  practice  of  his  profession,  or  fallen  short  of  an 
honorable  aim?  Herodes  Atticus,  the  first  Athen- 
ian orator  of  his  day,  making  a  speech  before  the 
Emperor  Marcus  Antoninus,  became  confused  in 
thought,  lost  the  thread  of  his  argument,  and  ab- 
ruptly left  the  rostrum,  which  so  affected  him  that 
he  fell  sick  and  came  near  dying  of  sheer  mor- 
tification. Labienus,  having  written  some  books 
which  were  criticised  and  condemned  by  the  senate, 
sought  to  escape  from  society,  and  fled  to  hide  him- 
self in  the  catacombs.  Sophocles,  having  produced 
a  tragedy  which  the  people  failed  to  applaud,  went 
and  inflicted  upon  himself  a  severe  corporeal  pun- 
ishment. The  son  of  Emilius  Scaurus,  having  de- 
serted his  post  in  battle,  deemed  himself  unworthy 
to  appear  before  his  father  and  plunged  a  dagger 
into  his  heart.  But  what  are  such  failures,  compared 
with  sin  against  God?  And  shall  sin  against  God 
be  the  only  thing  of  which  men  are  not  ashamed  ? 
Shall  they  be  so  overwhelmed  with  grief  and  mor- 


CHARITY  TRUE  TO  RIGHTEOUSNESS.  183 

tification  at  a  mere  mistake  or  accident,  or  a  single 
dereliction  of  duty  under  the  strong  instinct  of  self- 
preservation,  that  they  cannot  bear  the  presence  of 
their  friends  nor  endure  to  live  any  longer ;  and  yet 
feel  no  shame,  no  sorrow,  no  remorse,  at  that  which 
is  infinitely  more  odious  and  more  terrible ;  and  re- 
joice in  that  which  has  nothing  in  it  but  misery,  and 
infamy,  and  ruin  ?  ^ 

Judas,  having  betrayed  his  Lord,  was  so  stricken 
of  conscience  that  he  went  and  hanged  himself;  but 
we  now  see  multitudes  betraying  him  continually, 
and  boasting  of  their  baseness.  Peter,  having  denied 
his  Master,  was  so  heart-broken  about  it  that  he 
retired  and  wept  bitterly  ;  but  these  sinners  deny  him 
daily  for  many  years,  and  are  proud  of  the  falsehood 
which  they  practise  before  the  world.  Esau,  having 
sold  his  birthright  and  forfeited  his  father's  blessing, 
cried  with  an  exceeding  bitter  cry;  but  these  laugh 
aloud  and  jest  amain  at  having  cast  away  their  title 
to  the  blood-bought  inheritance  in  heaven.  David 
lamented  his  transgressions  with  melodious  sighs 
upon  his  harp,  and  turned  all  his  hallelujahs  into 
doleful  wailings;  but  these,  as  Solomon  saith,  "de- 
light to  do  evil,  and  rejoice  in  the  frowardness  of  the 
wicked."  Alas!  that  men  should  value  themselves 
on  their  very  worthlessness,  and  pride  themselves 
upon  their  offensiveness  to  God !  What  other  proof 
is  there,  equal  to  this,  of  the  desperate  depravity  of 
the  human  heart? 

And  will  Jehovah  suffer  them  with  impunity  to 
be  proud  of  their  vileness,  who  hurled  Lucifer  from 

1  Segneri. 


184  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

his  heavenly  seat  for  being  proud  of  his  perfections? 
If  he  punished  Goliath  because  he  vaunted  of  his 
strength,  and  Absalom  because  he  plumed  himself 
upon  his  beauty,  and  Sennacherib  because  he  gloried 
in  his  military  achievements,  and  Haman  because  he 
was  puffed  up  with  the  partialities  of  the  king,  and 
Nebuchadnezzar  because  he  exulted  in  the  grandeur 
and  magnificence  of  his  capital,  and  Hezekiah  be- 
cause he  made  an  ostentatious  display  of  his  treas- 
ures to  the  Assyrian  deputies,  and  Herod  because  he 
was  vain  of  his  splendor  and  his  eloquence  and  gave 
not  God  the  glory,  and  the  boastful  Pharisee  in  the 
parable  because  he  paraded  before  the  Lord  in  the 
temple  his  fasts  and  tithes  and  alms-deeds,  how 
shall  those  escape  who  rejoice  in  their  falsehood, 
their  treachery,  their  double  dealing,  their  trickery 
in  trade,  their  shrewdness  of  deceit,  their  successful 
schemes  of  villany,  and  all  those  still  more  shameful 
practices  which  render  them  a  terror  to  innocence 
and  a  curse  to  society  ? 

Ah !  could  they  but  once  see  themselves  as  others 
see  them,  as  God  and  his  angels  see  them  —  could 
they  for  a  moment  be  disenchanted  of  the  foul  sor- 
cery of  sensualism  and  vicious  habit  —  would  they 
not  instantly  dash  away  their  cups  and  their  cards, 
tear  themselves  indignantly  from  the  scenes  of  profli- 
gate dissipation  in  which  they  have  long  delighted, 
and  retiring  to  their  secret  chambers  make  the  soli- 
tude of  the  night  doleful  with  lamentations  and  self- 
reproaches,  and  in  sackcloth  and  ashes  keep  such  a 
Lent  as  once  for  more  than  half  a  century  averted 
from  Nineveh  the  threatened  wrath  of  Heaven  ? 


CHARITY  TRUE   TO   RIGHTEOUSNESS.  185 

St.  Jerome,  who  spent  a  large  portion  of  his  life 
in  the  Holy  Land,  has  left  us  a  vivid  picture  of  the 
wailing  of  the  Jews  once  a  year  amidst  the  ruins  of 
their  lost  Jerusalem.  They  were  strictly  prohibited, 
he  informs  us,  from  entering  the  city,  except  on  this 
appointed  "  day  of  weeping ;  "  and  even  on  this  day, 
the  anniversary  of  their  unspeakable  woe,  they  were 
forced  to  pay  for  the  melancholy  privilege,  so  that 
the  children  of  those  who  had  bought  the  blood  of 
Jesus  with  money  must  now  give  money  for  their 
own  tears.  From  every  quarter  they  came,  and  even 
from  distant  countries,  and  pitched  their  sorrowful 
camps  upon  the  surrounding  hills  at  some  distance 
from  the  shattered  walls.  Early  on  the  woful  morn- 
ing many  different  companies  might  be  seen,  of  men 
and  women,  old  and  young,  with  rent  robes,  dishev- 
elled hair,  and  heads  covered  with  ashes,  moving 
slowly  and  silently  toward  the  gate  of  entrance, 
where  the  several  columns  met  and  closed  their 
ranks ;  and  as  they  passed  in,  remembering  how  the 
Roman  legions  had  passed  the  same  way  before  them 
and  laid  waste  the  fair  city  with  fire  and  sword,  with 
one  voice  they  broke  forth  in  bitterest  lamentation ; 
and  their  harps  and  trumpets,  no  more  as  formerly 
of  pleasant  sound,  swelled  the  vast  threnody  of 
despair ;  and  so'  they  went  from  place  to  place  and 
from  quarter  to  quarter,  howling  over  the  ashes  of 
the  temple,  over  the  fallen  towers,  and  palaces,  and 
porticos,  and  all  the  glory  of  God's  terrestrial  throne 
in  ruins.  And  when  the  time  came  for  their  depart- 
ure, unable  to  tear  themselves  away  from  the  dear 
memorials  of  their  lost  heritage,  many  fell  down  at 


186  PAULINE   CHAEITY. 

the  feet  of  the  rude  soldiers,  piteously  craving  a 
little  longer  indulgence  of  the  luxury  of  grief;  which 
was  either  cruelly  denied  them,  or  granted  only  on 
their  payment  of  a  second  and  larger  fee.^ 

A  very  affecting  spectacle  it  must  have  been  — 
many  thousands  of  God's  ancient  covenant  people, 
now  reprobate  and  ruined  beyond  all  hope  of  remedy, 
thus  bewailing  the  national  disaster  on  the  sacred 
spot  where  their  fathers  worshipped  and  perished, 
regardless  of  the  taunts  and  jeers  of  a  hostile  j)opu- 
lace,  and  all  the  insolent  reproaches  of  the  vile  mob 
of  idolaters !  And  what  was  their  great  calamity, 
but  the  fruit  of  sin?  Sin  it  was  —  tJie  abominable 
thing  which  God  hateth  —  that  had  disinherited  them 
and  laid  their  holy  place  in  ruins.  And  shall  sinners 
now  make  mirth  over  that  which  has  lost  them 
heaven,  redemption,  immortality  ?  Will  they  laugh 
at  the  anger  of  the  Almighty,  and  defy  his  thunders 
hurtling  through  the  fiery  cloud?  Let  them  make 
ready,  then,  and  stand  forth  to  meet  their  God! 
Let  them  harden  their  nerves  to  steel,  their  bones 
to  brass,  their  muscles  to  adamant,  and  come  up  to 
the  battle ! 

You  have  read  how  the  servants  of  the  fugitive 
David  were  enraged  at  the  insolent  mockery  of  that 
wicked  Benjamite  at  Bahurim,  and  one  of  them  said, 
"Why  should  this  dead  dog  curse  my  lord  the  king? 
let  me  go  over,  I  pray  thee,  and  take  off  his  head ! " 
So,  methinks,  all  the  elements  of  nature,  which  are 
the  household  troops  of  Jehovah,  incensed  at  the  dis- 
honor done  their  Sovereign,  are  impatient  of  his  tardy 

1  Segneri. 


CHAEITY  TRUE  TO   KIGHTEOUSNESS.  187 

vengeance;  the  earth  crying  —  "Let  me  go,  and  I 
will  ingulf  them  as  I  did  Korah  and  his  company  ! " 
the  sea  crying  —  "Let  me  go,  and  I  will  devour  them 
as  I  did  Pharaoh  and  his  army!"  the  fire  crying  — 
"  Let  me  go,  and  I  will  fall  upon  them  as  I  did  upon 
the  Syrian  captain  and  his  fifty!"  the  wind  crying  — 
"  Let  me  go,  and  I  will  sweep  them  away  with  my 
tornadoes  as  I  did  the  feasting  sons  and  daughters 
of  Job!"  the  pestilence  crying  —  "Let  me  go,  and 
*I  will  blast  them  with  the  breath  of  my  nostrils  as  I 
did  the  impious  Assyrians  under  the  walls  of  Jerusa- 
lem ! "  earthquake  and  volcano  shouting  in  muffled 
thunder  —  "Let  us  go,  and  we  will  rock  their  cities 
to  ruin,  and  bury  the  guilty  populace  beneath  rivers 
of  lava,  so  that  their  place  shall  no  more  be  found !  " 
and  every  winged  minister  of  wrath  waiting  impa- 
tiently for  his  commission  to  avenge  the  Most  High 
upon  these  insolent  despisers  of  his  truth,  these  reck- 
less merry-makers  in  iniquity  !  ^ 

And  if  thus  it  is  with  those  who  glory  in  their 
own  shame,  and  sport  themselves  with  their  own  de- 
ceivings,  how  is  it  with  those  who,  like  Satan,  tempt 
others  to  evil,  and  enjoy  a  satanic  delight  in  the  ruin 
they  have  wrought  —  who  put  the  maddening  cup 
to  their  neighbor's  lips,  and  amuse  themselves  with 
the  tears  of  widows,  the  cries  of  orphans,  and  the 
anguish  of  breaking  hearts  —  who  practise  the  vilest 
arts  of  hypocrisy  to  mislead  unsuspecting  innocence, 
and  sully  the  white  robes  of  virtue,  and  raise  on 
earth  the  prelude  of  the  eternal  lamentations?     Is 

1  Segneri. 


188  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

it  necessary  to  say  theirs  is  not  the  part  of  charity  ? 
Is  Satan  more  opposed  to  God,  cruelty  to  kindness, 
pollution  to  purity,  Gehenna  to  Paradise,  than  their 
character  and  conduct  are  to  charity  ?  Tenderness  ? 
compassion?  sympathy?  humanity?  There  is  as 
much  of  these  in  a  block  of  granite — in  the  heart  of 
a  fiend  —  as  in  these  children  of  the  Wicked  One ! 
It  is  written,  "  Fools  make  a  mock  at  sin ; "  and  who 
but  fools  could  indulge  in  such  mockery?  Folly? 
Mere  folly  ?  It  is  madness,  inspired  of  malice,  and 
inflamed  to  fury !  It  is  the  spirit  of  a  demon  in  the 
brain  of  a  lunatic  !  It  is  hell  emptied  into  Bedlam  ! 
To  rejoice  in  that  which  dethroned  some  of  the  heav- 
enly principalities,  and  drove  man  out  of  the  blessed 
garden  —  to  rejoice  in  that  which  severed  the  great 
human  family  from  its  loving  Father,  and  cut  the 
ingrates  off  from  all  angelic  fellowship  — to  rejoice  in 
that  which  once  deluged  with  water  one  of  the  fair- 
est provinces  of  creation,  and  shall  hereafter  whelm 
it  with  all  its  works  in  consuming  fire  —  to  rejoice  in 
that  which  is  daily  turning  souls  capable  of  heaven 
into  fire-brands  of  hell,  robbing  them  of  an  inherit- 
ance procured  for  them  by  blood  divine,  and  banish- 
ing them  accursed  and  irrecoverable  beyond  the 
dominion  of  mercy  —  is  surely  a  moral  insanity 
which  no  words  can  adequately  express  —  a  sight  to 
make  saints  stand  aghast,  and  strike  angelic  powers 
into  mute  paralysis ! 

But  why  should  I  break  the  spell?  Is  there  any 
possible  deliverance  for  such  deluded  wretches  out  of 
the  snare  of  the  Devil  ?  Nay,  let  them  revel  a  little 
longer  in  their  shameful  mirth  !     Why  should  I  rouse 


CHARITY  TRUE  TO  RIGHTEOUSNESS.  189 

the  slumbering  conscience  to  torment  them  before 
the  time  ?  Rejoice,  ye  fools,  in  your  folly,  for  soon 
will  it  be  over  and  ended  !  Vengeance  is  God's,  and 
the  day  is  at  hand!  Behold,  he  cometh !  Now 
laugh  at  the  last  trump,  the  opening  graves,  the 
flaming  mountains,  and  the  world  on  fire !  Now 
defy  the  enthroned  Judge,  and  scoff  at  the  sentence 
of  doom,  and  regale  your  ears  with  the  wailings  of 
your  victims,  and  brace  your  desperate  hardihood 
for  the  endurance  of  an  eternal  fate  !  For  it  is  come 
at  last  —  the  clay  of  recompense  ;  and  justice  without 
mercy  shall  vindicate  the  insulted  majesty  of  truth, 
and  anguish  without  hope  shall  succeed  your  mad 
rejoicing  in  iniquity ! 

To  these  earnest  remonstrances  with  open  profli- 
gacy and  undisguised  impiety,  some  who  hear  them 
may  raise  no  objection,  while  they  deem  nothing  that 
has  been  said  appropriate  to  themselves.  Yet  many 
who  hold  respectable  positions  in  society,  practise  an 
outward  morality  quite  unexceptionable,  and  often 
mingle  with  the  faithful  at  the  eucharistic  feast  of 
redeeming  love,  are  scarcely  less  culpable  in  these 
matters  than  the  most  degraded  wretch  among  the 
godless  multitude.  Satan  loves  to  array  himself  in 
the  robes  of  religion  in  order  the  more  effectually 
to  accomplish  his  cruel  purposes ;  and  those  who 
have  sold  themselves  to  his  service  often  imitate 
their  master's  hypocrisy,  concealing  the  assassin's 
dagger  beneath  the  cloak  of  charity.  They  are  full 
of  good  works,  and  every  tongue  is  eloquent  in  lau- 
dation of  their  devotion  to  the  Church,  their  liber- 


190  PAULINE   CHARITY. 

ality  to  the  poor,  and  their  tender  care  of  the  aflflicted 
and  the  unfortunate ;  but  this  is  only  the  outside 
whitewash  of  the  tomb  that  is  rank  with  inward  rot- 
tenness and  alive  with  hissing  serpents.  Within  that 
fair  exterior  lurk  envy,  jealousy,  dark  suspicions,  and 
malicious  purposes,  ready  to  assail  every  thing  pure 
and  beautiful  that  walks  in  God's  sunlight  above 
them.  They  are  never  content  —  these  foul  and 
fierce  spirits  —  till  they  have  arrested  somebody's 
career  of  usefulness,  or  hedged  up  some  one's  way 
to  honorable  success,  or  cast  a  blight  over  some  un- 
blemished reputation,  or  marred  the  peace  of  some 
harmonious  and  happy  family,  or  inflicted  a  wound 
upon  some  guileless  and  unsuspecting  heart.  For 
these  ends  they  pry  into  your  business  matters,  your 
social  relations,  your  domestic  concerns,  the  sacred 
privacy  of  your  chambers,  with  a  diligence  worthy 
of  the  highest  virtue,  and  an  impertinence  not  un- 
worthy of  the  lowest  vice.^  They  whisper  a  scandal- 
ous surmise,  and  enjoin  the  strictest  secrecy;  well 
knowing  that  they  are  giving  it  to  every  bird  of  the 
air,  and  sowing  it  broadcast  on  the  winds  of  heaven. 
With  a  baseness  of  which  Satan  himself  might  be 
ashamed,  they  write  an  anonymous  letter,  rank  with 
the  poison  of  false  kindness ;  making  the  postmaster 
an  unconscious  partner  in  their  despicable  enterprise, 
and  converting  the  ever-welcome  letter-carrier  at 
your  door  into  a  messenger  of  hell.  In  their  cow- 
ardly ambuscade  they  sit  concealed,  and  by  proxy 
play  their  masked  batteries  upon  their  victim,  who 
knows  not  whither  to  turn,  nor  which  way  to  escape, 

1  Dr.  South. 


CHARITY   TRUE   TO   RIGHTEOUSNESS.  191 

nor  whose  the  hand  that  wounds  him.  With  what 
a  fiendish  satisfaction  do  they  enjoy  the  mischief 
they  have  done !  with  what  an  under-chuckle  of  in- 
fernal glee  watch  the  writhings  of  the  anguish  they 
have  caused !  and  with  what  refinement  of  malevo- 
lent delight  gloat  over  the  mournful  sight  which 
makes  good  angels  weep,  and  breaks  anew  the  loving 
heart  of  Jesus !  Oh  !  when  I  come  in  contact  with 
one  of  these  human  reptiles  —  when  I  look  upon  the 
face  and  form  which  suggest  angelic  qualities,  but 
turn  out  to  be  the  spawn  of  the  old  serpent  —  my 
soul  recoils  with  unutterable  horror  and  disgust ; 
and  I  know  not  whether  I  ought  to  bewail  with 
Jeremiah  the  degenerate  daughter  of  my  people,  or 
scourge  the  villanous  tongue  with  words  of  indigna- 
tion that  well-nigh  blister  my  own  ! 

''Who  will  rise  up  for  me  against  the  evil-doers? 
and  who  will  stand  up  for  me  against  the  workers  of 
iniquity  ?  "  Trample  into  its  native  dust  the  viper 
that  lurks  by  the  path  and  snaps  at  the  passer's  heel  I 
Lash  beyond  the  pale  of  Christian  society  the  wretch 
that  tries  to  asperse  with  his  vile  suspicions  the  spot- 
less robe  of  virtue  !  Frown  into  merited  annihilation 
the  miscreant  that  seeks  to  assassinate  a  reputation 
which  ten  times  his  own  talents  could  never  attain ! 
Trust  not  the  man  that  whispers  in  your  ear  a 
calumny  against  his  neighbor ;  he  will  pick  your 
pocket  to-morrow!  Have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
woman  that  ventilates  her  uncharitable  spirit  in  an 
anonymous  letter :  she  will  cut  your  throat  at  mid- 
night !  The  Comanche  is  more  humane  in  his  war- 
fare ;  the  rattlesnake  is  more  honorable  in  its  attack. 


192  PAULTKE   CHAEITY. 

Such  a  one  could  laugh  at  chains,  dance  in  dungeons, 
jest  over  guillotines,  amuse  himself  with  inquisitorial 
engines,  enjoy  his  orgies  on  battle-fields  reeking  with 
blood,  and  with  his  boon  companions  —  as  my  own 
eyes  have  seen  —  make  a  gambling-table  of  his 
brother's  grave  I  He  could  trifle  at  the  death-bed 
of  a  Paine  or  a  Voltaire,  frolic  merrily  around  the 
Saviour's  cross,  and  find  his  sweetest  music  in  the 
dirge  of  ruined  souls. 

God  forgive  me,  if  I  express  myself  too  vehe- 
mently !  But  I  hate  the  liar  and  calumniator,  as  I 
hate  the  Father  of  lies  and  calumnies.  With  unutter- 
able detestation  I  spurn  the  sinuous  slippery  reptile, 
because  I  honor  the  Lamb's  redeemed  Bride  and 
desire  to  see  her  walking  with  her  Lord  in  raiment 
of  the  unsullied  snow.  Does  not  the  very  heart  of 
mercy  abhor  the  vampire  that  sucks  the  life  of  vir- 
tue, the  hyena  that  with  reeking  jaws  laughs  over  the 
charnel  of  slaughtered  innocence  ?  And  yet  against 
the  hateful  crawling  thing  we  must  not  bring  a 
railing  accusation ;  but  say,  as  the  archangel  did  to 
Satan,  "  The  Lord  rebuke  thee  !  "  and  pray,  with  the 
expiring  Saviour  upon  the  cross,  "  Father,  forgive 
them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do  !  " 

O  God,  most  merciful  and  gracious !  absolve  us, 
we  beseech  thee,  from  all  our  guilt,  and  wash  our 
leprous  souls  in  the  fountain  opened  for  sin  and 
uncleanness,  and  by  thy  Holy  Spirit  inspire  us  with 
that  divine  charity  which  "  rejoiceth  not  in  iniquity, 
but  rejoiceth  in  the  truth  I  " 


CHAKITY  JMAGNANUyiOUS  AND  INVINCIBLE.      193 


XV. 

CHARITY  MAGNANIMOUS  AND   INVINCIBLE. 

Charity  beareth  all  things,  believeth  all  things,  hopeth  all  things, 
endureth  all  things.  —  1  Cor.  xiii.  7. 

The  community  of  Christian  graces,  like  the  so- 
ciety of  Christian  souls,  is  animated  by  a  common 
spirit  and  governed  by  a  common  principle.  The 
subject  being  one  and  indivisible,  the  properties 
must  be  perfectly  homogeneous.  For  charity  is  not 
like  some  material  thing,  which  by  mechanical  or 
chemical  means  may  be  separated  into  many  parts. 
All  these  attributes  are  only  so  many  modified  exer- 
cises of  the  same  generic  virtue ;  even  as  judgment, 
memory,  imagination,  and  the  rest,  are  so  many  dif- 
ferent operations  of  the  same  mental  agent.  They 
resemble  a  harmony,  where  the  several  sounds 
sweetly  melt  into  one  another ;  or  a  rainbow,  where 
all  the  colors  meet  and  blend  in  one  magnificent 
arch.  They  are  not  a  heterogeneous  concourse  of 
strangers  at  a  watering-place ;  but  a  loving  family 
at  home,  dwelling  together  in  unity.  They  are  not 
a  grove  of  different  sorts  of  trees,  or  a  garden  of 
independent  plants  ;  but  the  interlaced  branches  of  a 
vine,  all  sustained  by  the  same  stock,  nourished  by 
the  same  sap,  and  bearing  similar  fruit. 


194  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

Four  clusters  of  this  vine  we  present  you  to-night, 
from  which  may  every  cup  be  filled  with  the  wine  of 
the  kingdom !  ''  Charity  beareth  all  things,  believ- 
eth  all  things,  hopeth  all  things,  endureth  all  things  " 
—  that  is,  beareth  all  things  that  can  be  borne,  be- 
lieveth  all  things  that  ought  to  be  believed,  hopeth 
all  things  good  con^cerning  others,  and  endureth 
whatever  of  evil  they  may  inflict  or  occasion  to  our- 
selves. These  four  we  regard  as  so  many  manifesta- 
tions of  invincible  magnanimity,  which  we  call  the 
eleventh  and  last  of  the  attributes  of  charity  as  here 
set  forth  by  the  apostle. 

If  we  take  the  first  of  these  four  items  to  mean 
the  same  as  the  last,  we  in  effect  accuse  St.  Paul  of 
a  very  awkward  tautology.  Bearing  and  enduring 
are  not  identical.  The  word  here  translated  "  bear- 
eth," Conybeare  and  Howson  render  "  forbeareth ;  " 
and  the  apostle's  meaning  may  be,  that  charity  exer- 
cises great  patience  toward  offenders,  restraining  her 
righteous  anger,  and  never  punishing  till  it  is  abso- 
lutely necessary.  The  same  Greek  word  sometimes 
signifies  to  sustain  or  support ;  and  perhaps  the  writer 
intended  to  express  the  idea  that  charity  is  the  sus- 
taining or  supporting  principle  of  all  other  virtues, 
or  that  it  sustains  or  supports  the  needy  or  suffering 
brother,  according  to  his  own  precept  to  the  Gala- 
tians  —  "  Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens,  and  so  fulfil 
the  law  of  Christ."  But  the  verb  has  been  rendered 
also  "  containeth,"  "  concealeth,"  "  covereth,"  or  "  ex- 
cuseth,"  which  seems  to  be  the  preferable  version 
in  this  place  —  containeth  as  a  vessel,  concealeth  as  a 


CHARITY   MAGNANIMOUS   AND   INVINCIBLE.      195 

secret,  covereth  as  a  mantle,  and  excuseth  as  a  friend. 
If  the  reference  is  to  self,  the  meaning  must  be  that 
charity  contains  or  conceals  its  own  feelings  under 
trial  and  suffering;  as  in  the  twelfth  verse  of  the 
ninth  chapter,  where  the  apostle,  using  the  same 
Greek  verb,  says,  "  We  suffer  all  things  "  —  we  bear 
all  in  silence,  without  complaining  or  divulging.  If 
the  reference  is  to  others,  the  meaning  must  be  that 
charity  does  not  judge  them  unjustly,  censure  them 
severely,  or  speak  unnecessarily  of  their  errors  and 
delinquencies ;  neither  raising  an  evil  report  against 
its  neighbors,  nor  taking  it  up  readily  when  origi- 
nated by  others ;  holding  in  the  unruly  tongue  as 
with  a  bridle,  saying  nothing  to  mar  a  good  reputa- 
tion or  blemish  the  slightest  appearance  of  virtue. 

Indeed,  as  already  shown  in  previous  discourses, 
there  is  nothing  more  characteristic  of  charity  than 
this  covering  or  concealing  of  a  neighbor's  faults. 
It  is  like  God's  love,  which  hides  the  sins  of  all  his 
children.^  It  does  not  search  for  evil ;  and  when  evil 
is  obtruded  upon  its  observation,  it  grieves  and  would 
gladly  veil  it  from  the  view  of  others.  All  officious 
arraignment  of  another's  motives  it  avoids;  and 
when  duty  demands  its  judgment,  the  adverse  sen- 
tence is  pronounced  with  sorrow.  Garnering  the 
wheat,  it  is  not  careful  to  ascertain  the  exact  am.ount 
of  chaff  and  straw.  In  quest  of  diamonds,  it  can- 
not stay  to  analyze  the  rock  in  which  they  are  em- 
bedded. Exploring  the  stellar  fields,  it  has  no  eye 
for  the  flitting  exhalation  that  gleams  over  the  stag- 
nant lagoon.     Such  glory  and  beauty  it  sees  in  moral 

1  Leighton 


196  PAULINE  CHAKITY. 

goodness  that  it  cannot  be  diverted  from  the  study 
and  admiration  of  it  by  any  infirmities  with  which  it 
may  be  associated.  Where  disclosure  or  reproof  is 
not  a  manifest  duty  —  where  no  good  is  to  be  gained 
by  publicity,  and  no  evil  is  likely  to  result  from 
secrecy  —  it  spreads  a  veil  over  its  neighbor's  imper- 
fections, and  conceals  them  from  the  knowledge  of 
the  world.  And  if  any  one  undertakes  to  defend  or 
exculpate  a  suspected  or  calumniated  brother,  faith 
is  not  wanting  to  receive  candidly  and  joyfully 
whatever  is  said  in  his  favor  —  "Charity  believetL 
all  things." 

Faith  in  the  beloved  object  is  the  natural  fruit  of 
love.  Any  thing  to  the  injury  of  those  for  whom  we 
entertain  a  strong  affection  we  can  scarcely  credit  at 
all,  but  every  thing  good  and  praiseworthy  that  is 
said  of  them  we  receive  with  glad  avidity.  Go  tell 
an  affectionate  mother  of  the  faults  of  her  absent  son. 
Does  she  readily  accept  your  testimony?  Is  there 
no  hesitation,  nor  incredulous  shake  of  the  head? 
You  must  adduce  the  clearest  evidence,  and  your 
single  word  must  be  corroborated  by  other  witnesses, 
before  she  will  yield  her  reluctant  credence  to  the 
accusation  ;  and  even  then  it  is  not  yielded  without 
many  misgivings,  and  motherly  surmisings,  and  con- 
jectural qualifications,  in  favor  of  her  child.  She 
demands  whether  you  yourself  witnessed  the  things 
of  which  you  speak,  or  whether  3^our  infoimant  were 
a  truthful  and  unprejudiced  person,  or  whether  the 
report  ma}^  not  have  originated  in  some  unfriendly 
motive,  or  whether  there  be  not  some  circumstance 


CHARITY  J^IAGNANIMOUS   AND  IXVINCIBLE.      197 

in  connection  with  the  facts  that  would  give  them  a 
different  aspect,  or  whether  after  all  it  were  not 
some  other  child  instead  of  her  own.  Her  heart 
commands  her  judgment,  and  will  not  permit  her 
to  receive  the  injurious  representation  without  the 
clearest  and  most  unquestionable  proof.  Some  mis- 
take, she  thinks,  there  must  be  about  the  matter. 
Rather  than  credit  the  report  of  her  darling's  cul- 
pability, she  would  believe  a  dozen  persons  in  error, 
or  even  guilty  of  malicious  falsehood.  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  tell  her  of  the  good  and  noble  conduct 
of  her  boy;  tell  her  of  his  prudence  and  discretion, 
his  fine  manners  and  unexceptionable  deportment,  his 
studious  habits  and  proficiency  in  learning ;  and  in- 
stantly you  see  the  glad  conviction  beaming  in  her 
eye,  and  mantling  all  her  features  with  sunny  joy; 
and  perhaps  she  adduces  many  confirmations  of  your 
encomium,  and  tells  you  the  finest  things  concerning 
her  son,  and  expatiates  enthusiastically  upon  his  rare 
and  noble  qualities.  What  is  it  but  love,  that  ren- 
ders her  so  incredulous  to  what  is  said  against  him, 
and  so  ready  to  receive  without  abatement  or  quali- 
fication all  that  is  uttered  in  his  praise?^  And 
Christian  love,  operating  in  another  sphere,  differs 
nothing  in  this  respect  from  natural  maternal  affec- 
tion, powerfull}^  inclining  the  heart  to  faith  in  the 
moral  excellence  of  its  object. 

The  apostle  tells  us  that  "  faith  worketh  by  love ; " 
is  it  not  equally  true,  that  love  worketh  by  faith? 
The  fact  is,  that  the  two  principles  are  co-operative 
and  inseparable,  both  in  their  exercise  toward  God 

I  Jldw^rd  Irving, 


198  PAULINE   CHARITY. 

and  in  their  exercise  toward  man  acting  reciprocally, 
each  strengthening  and  promoting  the  other.  The 
more  we  trust  God,  the  more  shall  we  love  him ;  and 
the  more  we  love  him,  the  more  inclined  are  we  to 
trust  him.  And  thus  it  is  with  love  to  our  brethren 
in  Christ.  Loving  them  sincerely,  we  cannot  easily 
distrust  them.  Esteem  is  an  important  element  of 
love,  and  we  esteem  highly  only  that  which  we  be- 
lieve to  be  good.  Charity,  therefore,  is  not  independ- 
ent of  faith;  and  she  is  kindly  disposed  to  credit 
whatever  is  said  in  favor  of  her  object.  Not  with 
cautious  hesitation,  as  if  afraid  of  believing  too  much, 
does  she  receive  the  favorable  testimony  concerning 
a  Christian  brother ;  but  listens  with  evident  delight 
to  every  word,  and  gives  conviction  gladdest  wel- 
come. Instead  of  acting  on  the  villanons  Machi- 
avellian maxim  that  we  ought  to  regard  all  men  as 
knaves  till  they  are  proved  to  be  otherwise,  she  pre- 
fers to  trust  them  as  honest  and  virtuous  till  she 
has  unquestionable  evidence  that  they  are  unworthy 
of  her  trust.  With  great  caution  and  manifest  re- 
luctance she  receives  any  statement  or  suggestion 
injurious  to  another's  good  name,  but  cordially  as- 
sents to  every  thing  said  in  his  favor,  and  rejoices  to 
hear  him  commended.  He  may  be  a  stranger  or  a 
foreigner;  he  may  be  a  rival  or  an  adversary;  he 
may  be  of  another  party  in  religion  or  another 
school  in  politics;  but  charity,  neither  a  bigot  nor 
a  partisan,  can  imagine  that  some  good  thing  may 
come  even  out  of  Nazareth.  She  will  not  prejudge, 
but  will  open  her  heart  to  the  entertainment  of  evi- 
dence, and  weigh  candidly  every  circumstance,  that 


CHARITY  MAGNANIMOUS   AND   INVINCIBLE.      199 

she  may  be  able  to  approve  things  that  are  excellent. 
When  your  fair  fame  is  tarnished  by  the  evil  tongue, 
when  your  Christian  character  is  wounded  by  the  dogs 
of  slander,  she  still  adheres  to  her  good  opinion  of  you, 
and  maintains  her  faith  till  its  very  foundations  fail. 

But  perhaps  the  matter  is  investigated,  the  report 
confirmed,  the  accused  convicted.  What  will  char- 
ity do  now?  She  ''hopeth  all  things."  May  not 
some  palliation  or  excuse  yet  be  found,  something 
transpire  to  relieve  the  case  of  its  darker  features, 
some  favorable  development  give  the  whole  affair  a 
very  different  phase?  First  appearances  are  often 
deceptive,  circumstantial  evidence  is  frequently  fal- 
lacious, and  even  direct  testimony  cannot  always  be 
relied  upon ;  and  charity  hopes  that,  though  many 
things  now  look  suspicious,  some  future  discovery  or 
explanation  will  make  the  innocence  of  the  accused 
perfectly  clear  to  all.  People  often  form  an  unfa- 
vorable opinion  of  others  from  some  error  of  their 
own,  or  from  an  ex-parte  statement  by  a  third  per- 
son; and  charity  hopes  that,  when  the  other  side 
comes  to  be  heard,  the  opposing  testimony  may  be 
sufficient  to  obliterate  the  false  or  partial  impression 
already  thus  produced.  Some  speakers  are  always 
using  superlatives  and  magnifying  whatever  they 
relate ;  and  charity  hopes  that  the  affair,  having 
passed  from  tongue  to  tongue,  a  lit  le  embellished  or 
exaggerated  by  every,  repetition,  will  be  found  less 
flagrant  than  at  first  represented.  The  world  is 
largely  given  to  lying,  and  defamation  is  one  of  the 
most  prevalent  vices  of  society,  and  envious  tongues 


200  PAULINE   CHARITY. 

can  never  rest  till  they  have  blasted  some  overshad- 
owing reputation  or  checked  the  career  of  some  am- 
bitious rival ;  and  charity  hopes  that  the  allegation 
may  tnrn  out  in  the  end  to  be  altogether  groundless, 
the  despicable  work  of  one  of  those  depraved  souls 
who  are  always  trying  to  put  out  another's  light 
that  their  own  may  shine  the  brihgter.  Wrong- 
doing sometimes  originates  in  ignorance  or  infirmity, 
in  misinformation  or  misjudgment,  where  there  is  no 
evil  motive,  where  the  intention  is  even  friendly  and 
benevolent ;  and  charity  hopes  that,  while  the  deed 
itself  wears  a  somewhat  questionable  aspect,  it  may 
yet  be  made  to  appear  that  the  error  was  more  in 
the  head  than  in  the  heart,  that  it  was  rather  an 
involuntary  mistake  than  an  intentional  wrong,  and 
that  better  information  in  the  future  will  prevent  its 
repetition.  The  sinner  is  not  always  incorrigible, 
the  worst  offenders  have  occasionally  been  reformed, 
and  no  one  ought  to  be  delivered  over  to  Satan  for 
the  first  or  second  act  of  indiscretion  or  even  of 
more  serious  delinquency ;  and  charity  hopes  that, 
if  the  accused  is  really  guilty,  and  guilty  to  the  full 
extent  of  the  finding,  he  is  not  yet  quite  past  all 
power  of  recovery,  but  may  by  proper  means  be 
brought  to  repentance  and  plucked  as  a  brand  from 
the  burning.  In  short,  amidst  all  that  is  unfavor- 
able and  discouraging,  charity  hopes  on,  hopes  ever ; 
unwilling  to  abandon  her  efforts  in  behalf  of  the 
beloved  delinquent,  still  pursuing  him  with  prayers, 
and  tears,  and  tender  remonstrances  ;  striving, 

"By  winning  words  to  conquer  willing  hearts, 
And  make  persuasion  do  the  work  of  fear." 


CHAEITY  MAGNANIMOUS   AND  INVINCIBLE.      201 

"Who  has  not  seen  the  Christian  mother,  patiently 
bearing  with  the  irregularities  of  a  wild  and  way- 
ward son,  hoping  to  reclaim  him  from  his  wicked 
ways,  even  when  all  others  have  given  him  up  in 
despair  ?  Who  has  not  seen  the  meek  and  long-suf- 
fering wife,  after  years  of  cruel  annoyance  and  guilty 
provocation,  planning,  toiling,  watching,  night  and 
day,  in  hope  of  recovering  a  debauched  and  aban- 
doned husband  out  of  the  snare  of  evil  habit  and 
vicious  companionship',  and  raising  him  up  from  his 
moral  degradation  to  the  dignity  of  a  virtuous  and 
sober  life?  But  why  dwell  on  these  illustrations? 
Examples  of  the  same  spirit,  sufficient  to  confound 
all  human  philosophy  and  set  the  heathen  world 
a-stare,  challenge  our  admiration  in  the  patient  la- 
bors of  apostolic  saints  and  the  heroic  hopefulness 
of  martyrs,  preaching  love  to  their  persecutors,  pray- 
ing for  their  conversion  in  dungeons,  and  breathing 
benedictions  from  the  flames.  Nay,  let  us  lift  our 
thoughts  to  the  charity  of  God,  giving  his  beloved 
Son  for  the  ransom  of  a  ruined  world ;  offering  eter- 
nal life  to  those  who  have  spiked  their  Saviour  to 
the  cross;  commissioning  the  embassy  of  mercy  to 
nations  long  debased  by  all  manner  of  idolatry,  im- 
piety and  impurity ;  sending  forth  the  angel  of  the 
everlasting  gospel,  with  wing  that  never  droops 
and  voice  that  shall  not  fail,  till  every  continent  has 
heard,  and  every  island  has  answered,  and  every 
inch  of  our  atmosphere  thrills  to  the  melody  ! 

But  some  poor  sinner,  abandoned  of  all  virtuous 
principle,  has  sold  himself  to  commit  iniquity  and 


202  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

work  all  manner  of  uncleanness  with  greediness. 
He  moves  among  men,  a  loathsome  embodiment  of 
vice,  a  walking  pestilence,  a  living  malediction. 
The  fatal  hour  is  come.  The  horrors  of  retribution 
thicken  around  him.  He  is  dying  in  his  sins.  His 
last  breath  is  blasphemy ;  his  last  look  is  agony ;  his 
last  heart-throb  is  despair.  But  charity,  hoping 
against  hope,  still  kneels  at  his  couch,  like  an  angel 
at  the  gates  of  hell;  bathing  his  cold  hands  with 
blessed  tears,  mingling  the  precious  dew  of  compas- 
sion with  the  clammy  perspiration  on  his  brow, 
sobbing  incessant  prayers  for  the  departing  soul,  hov- 
ering in  anguish  over  the  abysmal  gloom  whither  it 
has  plunged  forever,  and  then  returning  to  fold  her 
trembling  wings  upon  the  bosom  of  Eternal  Love  ; 
and,  reluctantly  bidding  farewell  to  hope,  as  the  last 
melancholy  possibility,  she  "endureth  all  things." 
She  covered  and  excused  the  fault  as*  long  as  she 
could,  believed  the  good  while  any  ground  of  faith 
remained,  hoped  the  best  when  faith  was  no  longer 
possible,  and  now  silently  endures  what  she  could 
not  avert  and  cannot  remedy. 

"  Charity,"  says  an  eloquent  Englishman,  "  is  not 
a  frivolous  and  volatile  affection,  relinquishing  its 
object  from  mere  love  of  change  ;  nor  is  it  a  feeble 
virtue,  which  weakly  lets  go  its  purpose  in  prospect 
of  difficulty  ;  nor  a  cowardly  grace,  which  drops  its 
scheme  and  flees  from  the  face  of  danger :  it  is  the 
union  of  benevolence  with  strength,  patience,  cour- 
age, and  perseverance.  It  has  feminine  sweetness 
and  gentleness,  joined  with  masculine  energy  and 
heroism.     To  do  good,  it  will  meekly  bear  the  in- 


CHARITY  MAGNANIMOUS  AND   INVINCIBLE.      203 

firmities  of  the  meanest,  or  brave  tlie  scorn  and 
fury  of  the  mightiest."  ^ 

Like  the  storks  of  Delft  that  when  the  city  was 
b'arning,  having  vainly  tried  to  carry  off  their  callow 
3^oung,  resolutely  remained  and  perished  in  the  ef- 
fort to  protect  them ;  ^  charity  first  exhausts  all  her 
energies  in  the  service  of  miserable  men,  and  then 
sacrifices  herself  for  those  she  could  not  save. 
Rather,  like  the  Roman  soldier  who  kept  his  place 
at  the  Herculanean  Gate  of  Pompeii  till  the  fiery 
storm  entombed  him  where  he  stood,  she  maintains 
her  position  steadfastly  to  the  last,  and  will  be  found 
erect  in  full  armor  at  her  post  when  the  world's 
catastrophe  shall  fall. 

Her  labors  may  seem  fruitless ;  but  the  end  is  too 
important  to  be  abandoned  for  a  few  failures,  and 
she  continues  to  plough  and  sow  though  there  be  no 
hope  of  harvest.  Her  clients  may  prove  ungrateful ; 
but  like  her  heavenly  Father  she  is  kind  to  the 
unthankful  and  the  evil,  and  no  want  of  apprecia- 
tion can  damp  her  ardor  or  divert  her  aim.  Her 
motives  may  be  misunderstood;  but  remembering 
that  this  is  not  her  home,  and  that  the  selfish  world 
is  alien  to  her  spirit,  sh«  is  content  to  fulfil  her 
mission  and  be  esteemed  in  heaven.  Men  may  de- 
spise her  efforts  and  deride  her  measures;  but  as 
long  as  God  approves  and  good  angels  sympathize 
she  can  afford  to  treat  with  dignified  indifference 
the  bitter  irony  of  unbelief,  undisturbed  in  her 
blessed  work  by  the  fiery  shafts  of  wit  and  raillery 
which  are  ever  raining  upon  her  firm  helmet  and 

1  John  Angell  James.  2  De  Amicis, 


204  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

ample  shield.  And  what  though  she  be  opposed 
by  ignorance  and  persecuted  by  malice?  She  has 
counted  the  cost,  and  rejoices  to  suffer  for  the  good 
of  others.  Hers  is  a  heavenly  flame,  which  many 
waters  cannot  quench,  neither  can  the  floods  drown. 
"Her  energies  increase  with  the  difficulty  that  re- 
quires them,"  says  the  writer  just  quoted ;  "  and,  like 
a  well-constructed  arch,  she  becomes  firmer  by  what 
she  has  to  sustain."  Charity  is  not  a  spark  falling 
into  the  ocean,  nor  a  snowflake  descending  into  the 
volcano ;  but  a  mass  of  gold  cast  into  the  furnace, 
and  surviving  the  flame  by  which  it  is  purified.^ 

See  how  its  all-enduring  patience  triumphed  in  its 
divinest  Pattern.  The  earthly  life  of  Jesus  was 
filled  with  deeds  of  mercy,  and  his  path  from  the 
manger  to  the  cross  was  strewn  with  blessings  for  his 
enemies.  Yet  never  was  goodness  treated  with  such 
ingratitude.  Nearly  the  whole  period  of  his  public 
iHinistry  was  an  unbroken  scene  of  sorrow  and  trib- 
ulation. Indignity  after  indignity  and  cruelty  after 
cruelty  did  he  receive  from  the  perishing  creatures 
he  came  down  to  redeem.  Not  alone  the  vulgar  herd 
conspired  against  him,  but  men  high  in  authority 
and  powerful  in  influence  led  them  on  —  the  revered 
teachers  of  the  law  and  the  consecrated  ministers  of 
religion.  Without  cause  they  hated  him,  and  by 
craft  and  violence  sought  to  take  away  his  life.  Yet 
he  went  meekly  on  in  his  labor  of  love,  with  fre- 
quent expressions  of  immeasurable  pity  for  his  perse- 
cutors, and  tears  of  ineffable  compassion  wept  over 
the  city  that  clamored  for  his   blood.     And  when 

1  Massillon. 


CHARITY  MAGNANIMOUS   AND   INVINCIBLE.      205 

they  condemned  the  mnocent  to  death,  and  led  hun 
forth  to  his  cruel  fate  with  every  circumstance  of 
torture  and  ignominy  that  could  signalize  the  ex- 
ecution of  the  basest  criminal ;  and  when  they 
stretched  him  on  the  prostrate  tree,  and  a  human 
fiend  on  either  side  extended  his  arms  upon  the 
transverse  beam  and  held  his  hand  in  the  assigned 
position,  while  another  placed  the  sharp  spike  upon 
the  open  palm  and  wielded  the  hammer  whose  heavy 
fall  forced  it  through  shivering  muscle  and  shrink- 
ing nerve ;  and  when  the  horrid  engine,  bearing  its 
blessed  victim,  was  reared  upon  the  shuddering 
earth  toward  a  frowning  sky,  and  its  base  was  suf- 
fered to  fall  into  the  excavated  rock  with  a  force 
which  rent  his  reeking  wounds  and  almost  tore  his 
joints  asunder ;  oh !  he  called  no  angelic  legions  to 
avenge  his  anguish,  nor  fire  from  heaven  to  consume 
his  crucifiers;  but  with  a  compassion  which  none 
but  himself  could  feel,  and  an  emphasis  which  none 
but  himself  could  utter,  he  poured  forth  the  won- 
drous prayer  —  "Father,  forgive  them,  for  they 
know  not  what  they  do  !  " 

And  his  apostles,  impelled  by  the  same  spirit,  re- 
joiced for  the  elect's  sake  to  fill  up  what  was  behind 
of  their  Master's  sufferings,  singing  hymns  at  mid- 
night in  dungeons,  whence  they  went  forth  in  the 
morning  to  the  martyr's  ordeal  with  gladder  heart 
than  ever  bridegroom  went  forth  to  his  nuptials,  or 
victor  to  his  triumph,  or  monarch  to  his  coronation. 
The  charity  of  Jesus  was  the  inspiration  of  their 
zeal  and  the  secret  of  their  strength.  And  still  un- 
changed and  unchangeable  as  her  Lord,  charity  is 


206  PAULINE  CHAEITY. 

superior  to  all  adversity,  to  all  hostility,  to  all  the 
powers  of  earth  and  hell.  Censures,  slanders,  curses, 
threatenings,  cannot  daunt  her  heroic  spirit;  nor 
losses,  exiles,  prisons,  scourges,  crosses,  wear  out  her 
energies.  She  lies  calm  among  the  lions,  and  walks 
unharmed  in  flames.  She  smiles  at  the  inquisitor's 
engine,  and  triumphs  at  the  martyr's  stake.  Wear- 
ing her  fetters  more  proudly  than  royal  lady  ever 
wore  her  jewels,  and  glorying  in  her  wreath  of 
thorns  more  than  oriental  princes  in  their  diadems, 
she  lives  on  through  a  thousand  tribulations,  invin- 
cible to  the  last  hour  of  life,  exulting  in  the  last 
agony  of  death,  and  serenely  falling  asleep  on  the 
bosom  of  her  Beloved,  to  awake  satisfied  with  his 
likeness  in  the  glory  of  immortality ! 


CHAKITY  UNFAILING  AND  EVERLASTING.      207 


XVI. 

CHARITY  UNFAILING  AND  EVERLASTING. 

Charity  never  faileth;  but  whether  there  be  prophecies,  they 
shall  fail;  whether  there  be  tongues,  they  shall  cease;  whether 
there  be  knowledge,  it  shall  vanish  away.  For  we  know  in  part, 
and  we  prophesy  in  part;  but  when  that  which  is  perfect  is  come, 
then  that  which  is  in  part  shall  be  done  away.  When  I  was  a  child, 
I  spake  as  a  child,  I  understood  as  a  child,  I  thought  as  a  child;  but 
when  I  became  a  man,  I  put  away  childish  things.  For  now  we  see 
through  a  glass,  darkly;  but  then,  face  to  face.  —  1  Cor.  xiii.  8-12. 

Immortality  is  the  crown  of  virtue.  Riches  per- 
ish, and  hiurels  wither,  and  the  light  of  beauty  fades, 
and  the  fires  of  genius  burn  out,  and  the  proudest 
monuments  of  human  art  and  valor  crumble  down  to 
dust.  Change  is  the  universal  law  of  earth  -and 
time,  and  death  is  stamped  upon  man's  physical 
nature  and  all  his  present  environments.  Even  in 
Christianity  there  are  many  things  which  are  only  of 
temporary  utility,  and  destined  to  disappear  upon 
the  introduction  of  the  superior  economy  to  come. 
Already,  indeed,  the  oracle  of  prophecy  is  hushed, 
the  gift  of  unknown  tongues  is  withdrawn,  inspired 
knowledge  of  the  mysteries  of  religion  is  no  more, 
and  all  that  splendid  array  of  miraculous  powers 
that  distinguished  the  Apostolic  Church  is  numbered 
with  the  things  that  were.  For  these  were  only  the 
instruments  and  auxiliaries  of  that  divine  system  of 


208  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

which  charity  is  the  vital  principle.  These  were  only 
the  furnished  demonstrations  of  that  gracious  gospel 
of  which  charity  is  the  pervading  spirit.  These  were 
only  the  gorgeous  appendages  of  that  heavenly  law 
of  which  charity  is  the  end  and  the  fulfilment. 
These  were  only  the  temporary  scaffolds  of  that 
spiritual  temple  of  wliich  charity  is  the  precious 
material  and  the  imperishable  cement.  These  were 
only  the  necessary  credentials  of  the  Christian  reve- 
lation, accrediting  its  claims  upon  human  reverence 
and  belief,  and  laying  the  firm  foundations  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  upon  earth.  As  in  tlie  oriental 
countries  came  the  former  and  latter  rains,  the  one 
to  prepare  the  soil,  the  other  to  mature  the  harvest ; 
so  came  these  special  manifestations  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  when  the  apostles  went  forth  to  sow,  and  shall 
come  again  more  copiously  just  before  the  angels 
descend  to  reap.  The  means  are  valuable  only  for 
the  sake  of  the  end,  useful  only  as  promotive  of  the 
end,  and  therefore  dispensed  with  as  soon  as  the  end 
is  attained ;  but  the  end  itself  is  intrinsically  good, 
the  chief  honor  and  interest  of  our  being,  the  one 
essential  element  of  our  well-being  in  time  and  eter- 
nity.    "  Charity  never  faileth." 

We  may  change  many  of  our  opinions  and  prac- 
tices, and  yet  be  Christians.  The  Church  may  change 
much  of  her  regimen  and  her  ritual,  and  yet  be  holy, 
catholic,  and  apostolical.  But  this  great  central 
principle  of  our  religion  cannot  be  sacrificed,  with- 
out the  shipwreck  of  Christian  character  and  the 
subversion  of  Emmanuel's  throne  on  earth.  It  was 
proverbially  the  spirit  of  the  first  believers,  and  will 


CHARITY  UNFAILING  AND   EVERLASTING.      209 

be  equally  the  temper  of  the  last.  The  dispensations 
of  divine  truth  and  grace  are  successive,  the  patri- 
archal giving  place  to  the  Mosaic,  the  Mosaic  to  the 
Christian,  the  Christian  to  the  millennial,  the  millen- 
nial to  the  ultimate  and  everlasting;  but  charity, 
immutable  alike  in  its  essence  and  its  obligation, 
must  constitute  the  spiritual  life  of  God's  elect 
throughout  all  the  vicissitudes  of  time,  and  the  beauty 
of  holiness  in  w^hich  when  time  is  no  more  the  Bride 
shall  walk  with  her  Beloved  upon  Mount  Zion. 
One  after  another,  and  generation  after  generation, 
the  saints  pass  away  to  the  fellowship  of  their  de- 
parted brethren ;  but  whatever  they  leave  behind, 
their  charity  they  carry  with  them,  and  that  which 
characterized  them  on  earth  is  still  their  chief  quality 
in  paradise.  There  cometh  a  day  to  which  the  fairest 
that  ever  dawned  upon  this  dark  and  troubled  sphere 
is  as  midnight,  and  its  highest  noon  as  the  shadow 
of  death ;  but  the  greatest  glory  of  that  day,  and  the 
fountain  of  all  its  glories,  will  be  the  universal  prev- 
alence of  a  charity  that  "  never  faileth." 

For  the  Authorized  Version,  allow  me  to  substitute 
Conybeare  and  Howson's  reading  of  the  text:  — 
"Love  shall  never  pass  away,  though  the  gift  of 
prophecy  shall  vanish,  and  the  gift  of  tongues  shall 
cease,  and  the  gift  of  knowledge  shall  come  to  naught. 
For  our  knowledge  is  imperfect,  and  our  prophesying 
is  imperfect;  but  when  the  fulness  of  perfection  is 
come,  then  all  that  is  imperfect  shall  pass  away. 
When  I  was  a  child,  my  words  were  childish,  my 
desires  were  childish,  my  judgments  were  childish ; 


210  PAULINE   CHARITY. 

but  being  grown  a  man,  I  have  done  away  with  the 
thoughts  of  childhood.  So  now  we  see  darkly,  by 
the  reflection  of  a  mirror ;  but  then,  face  to  face." 

Having  mentioned  knowledge  in  contrast  with 
charity,  the  apostle  strikes  off  into  this  pleasant  side- 
path  ;  taking  an  interesting  view  of  the  present 
imperfection  of  our  knowledge,  and  of  its  destined 
perfection  in  the  life  to  come.  His  reasoning  re- 
quires him  to  state  simply  the  superiority  of  charity 
to  knowledge,  because  knowledge  in  its  present  modes 
and  media  is  necessarily  transitory,  whereas  charity 
is  from  its  very  nature  permanent  and  unfailing. 
But  having  stated  this,  he  proceeds  to  assign  the 
reason  of  the  transitoriness  of  human  knowledge  — 
its  partial  and  defective  character,  and  then  draws 
this  fine  comparison  between  its  imperfection  in  this 
world  and  its  promised  perfection  in  the  next ;  which 
comparison  he  illustrates  by  the  difference  between 
the  mental  operations  of  childhood  and  of  manhood, 
and  the  difference  between  the  image  of  an  object  in 
a  mirror  and  the  same  object  seen  clearly  in  direct 
vision.  The  digression  is  not  less  instructive  than 
natural,  and  we  will  follow  the  apostle  ;  for  wherever 
he  leads,  the  scene  is  fair,  and  fragrant,  and  full  of 
melodies ;  and  if  our  path  diverge  for  a  season,  we 
shall  soon  find  it  returning  to  the  "more  excellent 
way." 

The  term  "  knowledge  "  here  seems  not  to  be  re- 
stricted to  that  extraordinary  and  supernatural  sort 
of  which  we  have  already  spoken,  but  appears  to 
comprehend  all  our  present  knowledge  of  every  kind, 


CHARITY  UNFAILING   AND   EVERLASTING.      211 

which  is  pronounced  transitory  because  it  is  partial 
and  imperfect.  And  with  certain  obvious  qualifica- 
tions, the  apostle's  declaration  is  evidently  thus 
broadly  applicable.  For  all  our  present  knowledge 
is  limited  in  its  range,  defective  in  its  evidence, 
incrmplete  in  its  nomenclature,  and  inadequate  in  its 
current  media  of  communication  ;  and  these  must  be 
exchanged  for  clearer  conceptions,  ampler  compre- 
hensions, fuller  demonstrations,  better  forms  of 
expression,  and  easier  methods  of  acquisition;  and 
that  which  we  value  ourselves  so  much  for  possess- 
ing will  vanish  away  in  the  superior  revelations  of 
eternity,  as  vanish  the  stars  in  the  light  of  the  rising 
sun.i  The  practical  sciences,  the  mechanic  and  aes- 
thetic arts,  and  the  teeming  literature  of  the  world 
—  what  wiir  be  their  utility  in  the  glorious  life  to 
come?  If  they  were  not  necessary  to  man  in  the 
innocence  of  Eden,  how  can  they  be  necessary  to  him 
in  his  "paradise  regained"?  If  it  was  his  "disobe- 
dience and  the  fruit  of  that  forbidden  tree  "  that  first 
occasioned  their  necessity,  why  should  he  any  more 
require  their  aid  when  he  has  risen  far  above  his 
original  condition  to  an  elevation  which,  had  he 
never  fallen,  he  might  now  have  occupied  after  six 
thousand  years  of  improvement,  with  no  moral  cause 
to  obstruct  or  retard  his  progress?  What  need  of 
your  agricultural,  horticultural  and  botanical  sys- 
tems, when  the  earth  is  restored  to  its  original  fertil- 
ity, adorned  with  flowers  that  never  fade  and  fruits 
that  never  fail,  among  which  wander  all  animals  in 
the  perfection  of  their  strength  and  beauty  ?     What 

1  Dr.  Chalmers. 


212  PAULINE  CHAEITY. 

demand  for  your  theories  of  political  economy  and 
the  science  of  government,  when  "  a  king  shall  reign 
in  righteousness  and  princes  shall  rule  in  equity"  — 
when  God  the  Father  shall  set  his  own  King  upon 
his  holy  hill  of  Zion,  and  the  blessed  saints  shall 
share  the  prerogatives  of  his  throne,  or  go  forth  as 
the  ministers  of  his  court  and  the  messengers  of  his 
counsels  throughout  his  rejoicing  realm  ?  What  call 
for  architectural  skill,  and  the  arts  of  the  sculptor 
and  the  painter  —  of  the  lapidary,  the  jeweller,  and 
the  chemist  —  amid  the  perfect  forms  and  faultless 
hues  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  with  its  masonry  of  pre- 
cious stones  embedded  in  transparent  gold,  reflect- 
ing no  solar  radiance  and  gleaming  in  no  earthly 
gas-light,  but  ablaze  everywhere  with  the  glory  of 
God  and  the  Lamb?  How  shall  your  lame  and  limp- 
ing poetry  and  your  feeble  and  faltering  music  sur- 
vive the  thrill  of  the  archangel's  trump,  discoursing 
such  melody  as  never  before  saluted  the  ear  of  earth 
or  heaven ;  or  how  presume  to  lift  a  note  or  strike  a 
string,  amid  the  joyous  minstrelsy  of  the  redeemed 
and  the  unfallen,  rolling  forth  as  the  sound  of  many 
waters  and  mighty  thunderings?  And  what  work 
shall  be  found  for  the  legal  profession  where  all  obey 
the  royal  law  of  love  ?  and  what  service  for  the  med- 
ical faculty  where  "the  inhabitant  shall  not  say,  I 
am  sick  "  ?  and  what  business  for  those  who  build  and 
decorate  the  tomb  where  "there  shall  be  no  more 
death  "  ?  And  what  use  will  there  be  for  your  geo- 
graphical and  astronomical  books  —  your  maps  of  the 
earth  and  charts  of  the  sky  —  when  men  shall  be  as 
angels,  with  glorious  spiritual  bodies,  quick  as  the 


CHARITY  UNFAILING  AND   EVERLASTING.      213 

light  and  discursive  as  tlionght  ?  And  how  shall 
the  historian  and  the  philologist  employ  their  ample 
lore,  when  the  confluent  streams  of  history  are  lost 
in  the  ocean  of  eternity,  and  all  the  languages  and 
dialects  of  the  babbling  earth  have  given  place  to  the 
one  tongue  of  the  universal  kingdom?  And  how 
will  the  teacher  of  youth  occupy  his  powers  when 
immeasurable  knowledge  is  inhaled  with  the  first 
breath  of  immortality,  and  the  latest  born  of  the 
blessed  community  is  wiser  than  all  the  ancients  of 
the  world  that  was  ?  And  the  author  and  the  orator 
—  what  will  they  do  when  there  is  no  more  error  to 
be  corrected  nor  vice  to  be  overcome  —  when  truth 
requires  no  further  apology  and  virtue  no  further 
vindication  ?  And  the  statesman  and  the  warrior  — 
where  shall  their  vocation  be  when  all  power  and 
authority  are  given  to  the  glorified  Son  of  man  — 
when  nation  shall  never  again  lift  up  sword  against 
nation,  but  "  the  work  of  righteousness  shall  be  peace, 
and  the  effect  of  righteousness  quietness  and  assur- 
ance forever"?  And  the  preacher,  the  theologian, 
and  the  critical  commentator  —  what  shall  become 
of  their  functions  when  "  the  tabernacle  of  God  shall 
be  with  men  and  he  shall  dwell  amonor  them"  — 
when  "  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  shall  fill  the  world 
as  the  waters  cover  the  sea  "  —  when  ''  all  shall  know 
him  from  the  least  even  unto  the  greatest "  ?  And 
all  your  catechetical  works,  your  conflicting  confes- 
sions of  faith,  and  books  of  religious  controversy^ 
and  plethoric  bodies  of  divinity,  and  voluminous 
expositions  of  Scripture,  and  ponderous  tomes  of 
biblical  criticism,  and  costly  collections  of  rare  and 


214  PAULINE  CHAEITT. 

ancient  manuscripts,  with  all  your  learned  discus- 
sions and  elaborate  discourses,  your  quarterly  re- 
views, and  monthly  magazines,  and  weekly  and  daily 
newspapers,  and  other  popular  channels  of  literature 
—  what  shall  be  the  utility  of  these  when  knowledge, 
if  not  immediate  and  intuitive,  shall  be  attained  with 
a  celerity  almost  inconceivable,  accompanied  with 
indubitable  evidence,  characterized  by  unquestiona- 
ble certitude,  and  free  from  all  possibility  of  error  ? 
And  all  your  schools,  colleges,  universities,  theologi- 
cal institutes,  scientific  and  literary  associations,  with 
all  their  philosophical  apparatus,  chemical  laborato- 
ries, astronomical  observatories,  cabinets  of  curiosi- 
ties, museums  of  antiquities,  and  a  thousand  other 
means  by  which  knowledge  is  acquired  and  commu- 
nicated—  what  place  will  be  found  for  these  in  the 
original  fatherland  and  everlasting  dwelling  of  truth? 
And  which  of  your  myriad  volumes  shall  escape  the 
conflagration  which  is  to  burn  out  the  curse  that 
occasioned  their  necessity,  or  what  vaunted  produc- 
tion of  human  skill  or  gigantic  monument  of  human 
genius  shall  not  be  abandoned  and  forgotten  in  the 
dawn  of  the  better  dispensation  as  the  toys  of  the 
nursery  in  the  maturer  age  of  man?  Yea,  and  the 
very  Bible  —  "  the  Book  of  books  divine  "  — 

"  The  fountain-light  of  all  our  day, 
The  master-light  of  all  our  seeing"  — 

which  one  has  designated  as  "  God  in  print,"  and 
another  has  characterized  as  "  the  brightest  efflux  of 
the  uncreated  mind,"  and  another  has  pronounced 
"  worth  more  than  all  other  volumes  ever  written  " 


CHARITY  UNFAILING   AND   EVERLASTING.      215 

—  tlie  revelation  which  ''hath  brought  life  and  im- 
mortality to  light,"  the  teachings  of  which  are  "  able 
to  make  men  wise  unto  salvation,"  a  single  sentence 
of  which  has  sometimes  imparadised  the  departing 
soul  in  the  very  jaws  of  hell  —  what  is  it  but  a  primer 
for  children,  a  spelling-book  for  saints  in  their  in- 
fancy, a  catechism  for  the  primary  department  of  the 
school  of  Christ,  an  elementary  treatise  for  those  who 
have  just  entered  their  novitiate  and  begun  their 
studies  for  eternity,  to  be  laid  aside  when  we  gradu- 
ate into  the  higher  spheres  of  intellectual  and  moral 
perfection ;  or,  if  you  please,  the  metallic  mirror 
which  dimly  reflects  the  object  seen,  or  the  semi- 
transparent  medium  which  obscures  what  it  reveals, 
hereafter  to  be  superseded  by  the  clear  and  open 
vision  in  the  effulgence  of  a  never-waning  noon? 
"  For  our  knowledge  is  imperfect,  and  our  prophesy- 
ing is  imperfect ;  but  when  the  fulness  of  perfection 
is  come,  then  all  that  is  imperfect  shall  pass  away." 

This  passing  away  of  the  imperfect  and  coming  in 
of  the  perfect  to  occupy  its  place,  the  apostle  pro- 
ceeds to  illustrate  by  two  striking  similitudes. 

The  first  of  these  is  drawn  from  the  difference 
between  the  intellectual  operations  of  childhood  and 
those  of  manhood.  "  When  I  was  a  child,  my  words 
were  childish,  my  desires  were  childish,  my  judg- 
ments were  childish ;  but  being  grown  a  man,  I  have 
done  away  with  the  thoughts  of  childhood."  What 
does  this  mean,  but  that  the  future  knowledge  of  the 
saints  shall  as  far  transcend  their  present  attainments 
as  the  processes  of  the  maturest  mind  transcend  the 


216  PAULINE  CHAEITY. 

simplest  fancies  of  infancy  ?  "  We  are  now  "  —  to 
use  the  words  of  a  late  English  divine  — "  in  the 
minority  —  the  very  infancy  —  of  our  powers;  our 
notions  are  the  opinions  of  children,  our  discourses 
the  prattlings  of  children,  our  controversies  the  rea- 
sonings of  children."  ^  And  what  are  your  great 
philosophers  and  scholars  but  children  with  faculties 
a  little  quicker  and  conceptions  a  little  clearer  than 
their  fellows  ?  And  what  are  your  ablest  reasoners, 
your  finest  orators,  and  your  sweetest  poets,  but  pre- 
cocious infants,  who  have  outstripped  their  compan- 
ions in  the  alphabet  of  truth,  or  excelled  them  in  the 
facility  of  utterance?  And  Moses  with  his  divine 
teaching,  and  Ezra  with  his  varied  learning,  and 
David  with  his  melodious  psalmody,  and  Solomon 
with  his  "proverbial  philosophy,"  and  Isaiah  with  his 
Messianic  inspiration,  and  Ezekiel  with  his  sublime 
prophetic  symbolism,  and  Daniel  with  his  wondrous 
sagacity  and  godlike  wisdom,  and  the  beloved  John 
whose  apocalyptic  panorama  of  the  world  to  come 
exceeded  the  visions  and  raptures  of  all  the  rest,  — 
what  were  these  but  more  favored  youths  to  whom 
their  heavenly  tutor  granted  some  special  anticipa- 
tions of  future  developments  in  advance  of  the  pro- 
ficiency of  their  classes  ?  Yea,  and  St.  Paul  himself, 
trained  in  the  philosophic  school  of  Tarsus,  taught 
by  a  famous  doctor  of  the  law  at  Jerusalem,  con- 
verted by  the  personal  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ, 
inspired  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  caught  up  to  the  third 
heaven,  and  allowed  to  explore  the  secrets  of  the 
unseen   and   eternal  —  when  he  had   sounded  such 

1  Robert  Hall. 


CHARITY   UXrAILIXG   AND    EVERLASTING.      217 

depths  of  science,  and  measured  such  heights  of  wis- 
dom, and  traversed  such  ample  fields  of  truth,  and 
enjoyed  such  glorious  disclosures  of  what  human  eve 
had  never  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  nor  heart  conceived  — 
deemed  all  that  he  had  hitherto  learned,  whether  by 
his  own  application  or  by  God's  revelation,"  the  mere 
acquisitions  of  childhood,  and  believed  that  his 
knowledge  in  the  world  to  come  would  be  as  far 
superior  to  his  present  attainments  as  the  maturer 
views  of  his  manhood  were  to  the  puerile  conceits  of 
his  infanc}'. 

The  other  illustration,  according  to  Conybeare  and 
Howson,  is  in  these  words  :  —  "  Now  we  see  darkly, 
by  the  reflection  of  a  mirror ;  but  then,  face  to  face." 
Better  this  than  the  common  version.  The  ancient 
mirrors  were  not  of  glass  and  quicksilver,  but  of 
polished  metal,  reflecting  dimly  the  image  of  an 
object.  Some  critics,  however,  insist  that  the  apos- 
tle refers  rather  to  those  semi-transparent  substances 
which  were  then  used  for  windows,  such  as  horn  and 
diaphanous  stones ;  through  which  could  be  discerned 
only  the  outline  of  an  object,  and  that  outline  but 
imperfectly;  while  the  minuter  portions  and  fea- 
tures, with  the  colors  and  shading,  were  not  per- 
ceived at  all  —  a  striking  illustration,  certainly,  of 
the  present  imperfection  of  our  knowledge.  And 
this  interpretation  seems  the  more  probable  from  the 
other  Greek  word,  here  translated  "darkly,"  properly 
signifying  an  enigma  —  that  is,  a  verbal  puzzle,  a 
mystical  form  of  speech,  intentionally  so  constructed 
as  to  tax  the  mental  powers  in  its  solution  —  one 
thing  being  used  to  represent  another  on  account  of 


218  PAULINE   CHARITY. 

some  slight  resemblance  or  scarcely  traceable  anal- 
ogy. And  thus  we  have  the  double  idea  of  a  dim 
vision  and  a  dark  saying  to  symbolize  the  meagre 
and  unsatisfactory  character  of  our  present  intel- 
lectual attainments.  But  in  the  better  life  hereafter, 
the  metallic  mirror  or  the  translucent  medium  shall 
be  removed,  and  we  shall  see  face  to  face  ;  the  riddle 
shall  be  solved,  and  the  open  secret  shall  be  read  of 
all.  No  obscuring  intervention  then;  no  clouds  to 
veil  the  blessed  day  and  muffle  up  the  everlasting 
light ;  no  eclipse  of  "  the  Sun  of  righteousness,"  nor 
occultation  of  "  the  bright  and  morning  Star ; "  no 
doubt  or  uncertainty,  arising  from  the  abstruseness 
of  the  subject,  or  the  inadequacy  of  the  evidence,  or 
the  feebleness  of  the  faculties,  or  the  influence  of  the 
senses,  or  the  impulse  of  passion,  or  the  fatigue  of 
study,  or  the  heat  of  controversy,  or  the  confusion 
of  argument,  or  the  delusion  of  sophistry,  or  the 
vagueness  of  terminology,  or  the  variety  of  human 
opinions,  or  the  multiplication  of  vain  words  to 
darken  counsel.  No  more  walking  in  the  dubious 
twilight,  or  by  the  faint  glimmer  of  the  evening 
stars,  or  the  oblique  moonbeams  alternating  with 
long  lines  of  sombre  shade,  when  the  second  day- 
spring  from  on  high  shall  visit  us,  and  the  unsetting 
sun  shall  rise  — 

"  FuU  orbed  in  his  whole  round  of  rays  complete," 

and  we  who  have  long  groped  in  the  valley  of  the 
shadow  of  death  shall  enjoy  the  blissful  effulgence  of 
an  eternal  noon.  Clearly,  then,  shall  we  discern,  and 
accurately  discourse,  and  infallibly  reason,  on  every 


CHARITY  UNFAILING  AND  EVERLASTING.      219 

subject  that  may  occupy  our  powers.  Large  draughts 
shall  we  drink  from  the  pure  fountain  of  truth,  and 
no  more  seek  to  quench  our  thirst  at  the  shallow  and 
turbid  streams  which  flow  through  these  terrestrial 
vales.  New  conceptions,  new  revelations,  shall  visit 
us,  not  like  nightly  dews  or  summer  showers ;  they 
shall  burst  upon  us  like  the  alpine  deluge  ;  they  shall 
surround  us  like  the  amplitude  of  the  ocean;  they 
shall  invest  us  like  the  profusion  of  the  daylight 
and  the  all-pervading  air. 

Just  how  our  knowledge  will  be  acquired  in  that 
other  and  higher  life  —  whether  by  study,  or  by 
testimony,  or  by  verbal  revelation,  or  by  a  sort  of 
inspired  intuition  —  it  were  idle  at  present  to  specu- 
late. Whatever  the  means  or  the  method,  quite  sure 
we  are  that  there  shall  be  no  fatigue  of  effort,  nor 
flagging  of  interest,  nor  fallacy  of  reasoning,  nor 
fatuity  of  comprehension,  to  discourage  the  noble 
inquiry ;  and  no  vague  conjecture,  nor  false  conclu- 
sion, nor  feeble  evidence,  nor  doubtful  alternative, 
nor  torturing  vacillation,  to  mar  the  joy  of  discovery .^ 
Knowledge  will  flow  into  the  soul,  like  sunbeams 
into  the  eye,  with  an  ease  and  a  pleasure  infinitely 
superior  to  all  present  facility  and  luxury  of  learn- 
ing. The  mind  will  have  attained  the  full  maturity 
of  its  powers,  and  no  unfriendly  environment  will 
cramp  its  action  or  circumscribe  its  range.  Its  chain 
broken  and  its  ophthalmia  healed,  with  more  than 
eagle  pinion  it  shall  soar  to  the  very  fountain  of 
splendor,  and  with  more  than  eagle  vision  sustain 
the  full  blaze  of  its  glory.  And  if  it  require  leisure 
1  Bossuet. 


220  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

for  thought  and  investigation,  lo  I  eternity  is  before 
it,  with  no  possible  interruption  from  the  claims 
of  inferior  interests,  the  need  of  rest,  the  urgency  of 
appetite,  the  demands  of  domestic  relationships,  the 
responsibilities  of  official  investitures,  or  any  of  the 
numerous  burdens  of  care  and  toil  which  now  make 
the  pursuit  of  knowledge  so  difficult  and  its  acquisi- 
tion so  doubtful.  And  thus  conditioned,  how  delight- 
ful the  occupation  !  and  thus  facilitated,  how  amazing 
the  celerity  of  advancement!  and  what  grand  dis- 
coveries, what  transporting  revelations,  what  new 
affluence  of  science,  what  noble  endowments  of  wis- 
dom, what  immeasurable  expansion  of  faculty,  shall 
mark  the  progress  of  the  soul  through  all  the  succes- 
sive periods  of  a  blissful  immortality ! 

But  let  not  these  sublime  anticipations  be  mis- 
understood. When  we  say  that  our  knowledge  shall 
be  perfect,  we  do  not  mean  that  we  shall  possess  a 
power  of  comprehension  equal  to  that  of  God,  or 
even  to  that  of  any  superior  order  of  created  intelli- 
gences. We  mean  that  our  attainments  shall  be 
limited  only  by  our  capacities,  and  with  our  capaci- 
ties shall  be  ever  enlarging;  that  our  knowledge 
shall  be  free  from  all  admixture  of  error  and  delu- 
sion, and  from  all  painful  experience  of  fallacy  and 
incertitude.  Doubtless,  there  will  be  gradations  of 
mind,  no  less  distinctly  marked  than  now;  but  all 
will  be  filled  with  the  treasures  of  truth,  and  ravished 
with  its  ineffable  delights.  And  there  must  be  con- 
stant progression,  expansion,  and  upward  tendency ; 
for  the  rational  creature  can  never  rest  in  its  attain- 
ments, and  we  find  more  pleasure  in  a  new  mental 


CHARITY    UKFAILmG    AND   EVERLASTING.      221 

acquisition  than  in  all  that  we  possessed  before ;  and 
as  fresh  thoughts  and  fresh  truths  come  flowing  in 
from  every  quarter  of  the  blessed  universe,  from  the 
teeming  objects  of  every  department,  and  the  suc- 
cessive events  of  every  period,  the  mind  must  be 
always  enlarging  to  receive  them,  and  the  growth  of 
the  intellect  must  keep  pace  with  the  influx  of  ideas.i 
Lift  your  thoughts,  my  brethren,  to   this   sublime 
destiny  !  eternal  advancement  —  everlasting  accumu- 
lation—  progressive   perfection,    without   period   or 
pause  —  God's  intelligent  creature  continually  beau- 
tifying in  his  sight,  and  continually  drawing  nearer 
to  himself— the  glorified  spirit  of  man,  by  succes- 
sive degrees  of  resemblance,  still  approximating  the 
uncreated   Excellence,  ascending  from  strength  to 
strength,  from  splendor  to  splendor,  without   ever 
ariving  at  the  limit  of  its  progress!     What  heart 
does  not  glow  with  the  thought  that  there  is  a  point 
marked  in  the  calendar  of  eternity  when  the  man 
shall  be  what  the  angel  now  is,  and  the  humblest  of 
the  Lord's  redeemed  shall  occupy  the  eminence  from 
which  celestial  powers  and  principalities  shall  have 
gone   forward  to    superior  altitudes   of  intellectual 
glory,  and  that  this  illimitable  improvement  is  to 
proceed  with   still  increasing  rapidity  for  ever  and 
ever !  2     Verily,  "  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall 
be."     Eye  hath  not  seen,  ear  hath  not  heard,  heart 
hath  not  conceived,  the  power  of  the  human  mind 
and  the  vastness   and  splendor  of  its   attainments 
when  ultimately  enfranchised  with  the  glorious  lib- 
erty of  the  sons  of  God.     But  yet  more  stimulating 
I  Thomas  Dick.  2  Dr.  Chalmers. 


222  P'^ULINE  CHAKITY. 

and  transporting  is  the  assurance  that  our  knowledge 
shall  be  a  quickening  and  transforming  agency  — 
that  the  intellectual  shall  act  upon  the  moral,  and  the 
more  we  learn  of  God  the  more  we  shall  be  like  him 

—  that  the  mental  acquisitions  of  the  cherjib  shall 
still  kindle  the  spiritual  ardors  of  the  seraph  —  that 
every  new  idea  shall  add  fuel  to  the  holy  fir^  upon 
the  altar  —  that  every  fresh  breath  of  truth  shall 
brighten  the  living  flame  in  the  bosoms  of  the  blessed 

—  that  "God  is  light"  and  "God  is  love"  shall  be 
demonstrated  identical  propositions  in  the  logic  of 
heaven  —  that  Knowledge  and  Charity,  twin  sisters 
of  the  sky,  redeemed  from  the  captivity  of  time  and 
perfected  in  the  glory  of  immortality,  hand  in  hand, 
and  charming  the  ear  of  the  universe,  shall  go  sing- 
ing their  glad  duetto 

"  Through  the  sweet  groves  of  bliss  1  ** 


CHAEITY  SURVIVING  KNOWLEDGE.  223 


XVII. 
CHARITY  SURVIVING  KNOWLEDGE. 

Now  I  know  in  part,  but  then  shall  I  know  even  as  also  I  am 
known.  —  1  Cor.  xiii.  12 

One  has  well  said,  and  few  sayings  are  oitener 
quoted  —  "There  are  more  things  in  heaven  and 
earth  than  are  dreamed  of  in  our  philosophy."  And 
I  will  add,  what  none  can  deny  —  There  are  more 
than  are  suggested  even  by  our  theology. 

The  death-bed  sometimes  develops  a  wisdom  that 
amazes  the  witnesses,  and  one  of  the  last  utterances 
of  Sir  Isaac  Newton  is  remarkable  alike  for  its  sa- 
gacity and  its  humility.  To  a  friend  who  congratu- 
lated him  on  the  grandeur  of  his  scientific  discoveries, 
the  dying  philosopher  replied :  —  "I  have  only  been 
walking  as  a  boy  upon  the  shore,  and  have  perhaps 
picked  up  a  pebble  or  two  of  larger  size  and  greater 
value  than  others,  but  the  vast  ocean  lies  all  unex- 
plored before  me;  my  profoundest  disquisitions  on 
the  laws  of  nature  may  very  possibly  appear  to  the 
Almighty  as  the  merest  trifles  of  a  puerile  imagina- 
tion." 

Such  is  the  modesty  of  true  science ;  such  the 
humility  usually  attendant .  upon  vast  attainments. 
The  more  we  learn,  the  more  we  discern  how  much 


224  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

remains  to  be  learned.  The  farther  we  proceed  in 
knowledge,  the  farther  we  see  into  the  immeasur- 
able regions  beyond.  As  we  ascend  the  mountains, 
new  peaks  and  new  ranges  rise  to  view,  and  every 
summit  gained  reveals  a  more  distant  horizon.  As 
we  gaze  out  over  the  sea,  we  behold  only  the  surface 
and  a  few  objects  floating  upon  the  waters,  with  here 
and  there  a  landmark  along  the  far-reaching  shore ; 
but  what  eye  hath  measured  its  vastness,  or  fathomed 
its  awful  depths,  or  discovered  the  wealth  of  its  sun- 
less caverns,  or  classified  the  thousandth  part  of  its 
teeming  productions  and  disportive  life  ?  ^  "  The 
wisest  of  mortals,"  says  Plato,  "would  appear  but 
an  ape  in  the  presence  of  God."  After  all  our  in- 
quiries and  speculations,  probably  there  are  truths  of 
which  we  can  at  present  form  no  more  conception 
than  one  who  has  never  seen  can  form  of  colors,  or 
one  who  has  never  heard  can  form  of  musical  sounds ; 
and  periods  equal  to  the  present  age  of  the  earth 
multiplied  by  millions  may  roll  away  before  our  en- 
franchised and  renovated  powers  shall  be  able  to 
analyze  or  comprehend  them.^ 

"Now  I  know  in  part."  Many  things  there  are 
which  I  know  not  and  cannot  know  till  mortality 
shall  be  swallowed  up  of  life.  Portions  only  of  the 
truth  are  revealed,  and  portions  only  can  I  perceive 
and  understand.  I  know  something  of  nature,  for 
every  star  is  -an  inspired  minstrel,  and  every  flower 
is  an  instructive  lecturer,  and  every  atom  infolds  a 
volume  of  science.  I  know  something  of  providence, 
1  Thomas  Dick.  2  Thomas  H.  Stockton. 


CHARITY   SUKYIYING  KNOWLEDGE.  225 

for  the  invisible  hand  which  holds  the  winds,  and 
pours  the  floods,  and  rolls  the  spheres,  also  scatters 
the  crumbs  for  the  sparrow,  and  fills  my  cup  with 
blessing,  and  numbers  the  hairs  of  my  head.  I  know 
something  of  redemption,  for  I  hold  in  my  hand  the 
divine  record  of  the  incarnation  and  crucifixion  of 
God's  beloved  Son,  and  I  behold  upon  the  altar  the 
consecrated  symbols  of  his  suffering  flesh  and  flow- 
ing blood,  and  I  draw  near  -with  faith,  and  eat  and 
drink,  and  so  become  partaker  of  his  spiritual  life 
and  feel  within  me  the  pulse  of  immortality.  "  Lo, 
these  are  parts  of  his  ways ;  but  how  small  a  por- 
tion is  heard  of  him !  the  thunder  of  his  power  who 
can  understand ! "  How  many  matters  remain  to 
be  developed!  how  many  untra veiled  paths  to  be 
explored!  how  many  uncharted  coasts  to  be  sur- 
veyed ! 

And  what  we  do  know,  we  know  but  very  imper- 
fectly. On  a  variety  of  subjects,  indeed,  it  is  justly 
deemed  presumption  for  one  to  say,  "  I  know."  We 
can  scarcely  say  with  confidence,  "I  believe."  We 
conjecture,  we  imagine,  we  speculate,  we  theorize; 
and  this  commonly  is  what  we  call  knowledge.  Ed- 
ward Irving  once  remarked  that  he  loved  to  see  the 
truth  looming  through  a  mist.  Alas  !  it  is  only  thus 
we  ever  see  the  truth  at  all.  It  reveals  itself  often 
in  as  vague  and  shadowy  a  manner  as  the  midnight 
ghost  in  the  chamber  of  Eliphaz  the  Temanite.  We 
hear  a  voice,  but  discern  not  the  form.  We  gaze  into 
the  gloom  at  something  which  we  faintly  perceive, 
a  wavering  outline  which  we  cannot  trace,  a  dubi- 
ous apparition  which  excites  our  fears;  and  when 


226  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

it  speaks,  the  sound  is  low  and  faint,  and  the  ear 
receiveth  but  a  little  thereof.  We  catch  occasional 
glimpses  of  remotest  glimmerings,  and  hear  half-ar- 
ticulate mutterings  of  most  mysterious  things.  "  We 
walk,"  says  a  popular  British  essayist,  "  through  a 
narrow  valley,  shut  in  by  mountains,  whose  summits 
pierce  the  clouds,  whose  shadows  obscure  our  path, 
and  whose  dark  masses  stand  between  us  and  the 
prospect  that  lies  beyond.  On  what  theme  shall  we 
meditate,  and  not  be  mortified,  to  find  how  little  prog- 
ress we  can  make  in  any  direction  before  we  are 
arrested  by  insurmountable  obstacles?  How  must 
angels  wonder  at  the  limitation  of  our  faculties ! 
and  what  delightful  astonishment  must  seize  the  dis- 
embodied spirits  of  the  just,  at  the  mighty  bound 
they  make  by  that  one  step  which  bears  them  across 
the  threshold  of  eternity  !  "  ^ 

Very  painful,  sometimes,  seem  to  have  been  the 
questionings  of  that  powerful  mind.  "I  often  fall 
into  profound  musings,"  he  writes  in  one  of  his 
essays,  "  on  the  state  of  this  great  world,  on  the 
nature  and  destiny  of  man,  on  the  subject  of  the 
question — '  What  is  truth  ? '  The  whole  hemisphere 
of  contemplation  appears  inexpressibly  strange  and 
mysterious.  It  is  cloud  pursuing  cloud,  forest  after 
forest,  and  Alps  upon  Alps.  It  is  vain  to  declaim 
against  scepticism.  I  feel,  with  an  emphasis  of  con- 
viction, and  wonder,  and  regret,  that  almost  all 
things  are  covered  with  thickest  darkness,  that  the 
number  of  things  to  which  certainty  belongs  is  ex- 
ceedingly small.     I  believe  the  truth  of  Christianity 

1  John  Foster. 


CHAEITY  SUKYIYING  KNOWLEDGE.  227 

in  general ;  I  hope  to  enjoy  the  sunshine  of  the  other 
world."  1 

The  sunshine  of  the  other  world  —  at  least  its 
incipient  dawn  —  let  us  believe  that  great  thinker  is 
now  enjoying.  Who  can  tell  what  illustrations  of 
the  obscure  he  has  already  realized,  what  demonstra- 
tions of  the  dubious  and  uncertain,  what  revelations 
of  the  mysteries  which  on  earth  he  agonized  to  solve  ? 
But  for  us,  alas !  how  little  do  we  know  of  that 
"  other  world  "  !  The  sun  is  not  yet  risen ;  we  see 
only  the  moon,  sailing  through  misty  clouds,  which 
cover  the  landscape  with  shadows,  and  trouble  with 
incertitude  the  heart  of  the  traveller.  We  hear  not 
yet  the  carol  of  the  lark  as  he  soars  to  meet  the  day ; 
it  is  the  melancholy  hooting  of  the  owl  through  the 
dismal  solitude  of  the  night.  We  look  wistfully  into 
the  future,  and  walk  slowly  and  solemnly,  gathering 
up  questions  for  eternity.  Like  dim  curtains,  painted 
with  shapes  of  gloom,  and  terror,  and  weird  gran- 
deur, that  hang  around  some  dusky  hall,  waving  fit- 
fully in  the  uncertain  light,  the  great  truths  of 
human  destiny  encompass  the  inquisitive  and  specu- 
lative mind,  shrouding  all  things  with  twilight,  till 
the  dayspring  from  on  high  shall  shine  through  them, 
or  the  hand  of  the  Crucified  One  as  he  cometh  shall 
fold  them  up  forever.^ 

In  this  imperfect  and  preparatory  stage  of  our 
existence  we  have  just  light  sufficient  to  command 
our  belief  in  matters  essential  to  our  salvation,  to 
direct  us  in  the  discharge  of  our  duties  to  God  and 
to  one  another,  and  conduct  us  to  a  home  where 

1  John  Foster.  2  Coleridge. 


228  PAIJLmE  CHARITY. 

we  shall  see  clearly  and  know  perfectly  the  sublime 
truths  which  have  so  often  baffled  and  perplexed  our 
reason.  This  is  all  we  need,  and  all  that  God  hath 
given.  He  would  have  us  walk  by  faith,  which  is 
opposed  alike  to  open  vision  and  to  perfect  knowl- 
edge. The  Bible  stands  like  a  waymark,  pointing 
the  pilgrim  to  the  celestial  city,  but  furnishing  him 
no  needless  information  concerning  either  the  coun- 
try of  his  sojourn  or  the  scenery  of  his  destination. 
The  full  disclosure  of  that  which  is  unseen  and  eter- 
nal, at  present,  we  could  bear  no  better  than  the 
infant  of  an  hour  could  bear  the  unsoftened  splen- 
dors of  the  noontide  sun ;  nor  could  we  possibly 
grasp  the  ample  sphere  of  truth,  any  more  than  the 
arms  of  a  child  could  embrace  the  moon  it  so  much 
admires,  or  than  the  ken  of  a  cricket  could  sweep  the 
solar  system  and  comprehend  the  stellar  universe. 
Truth  is  infinite,  and  its  study  is  to  occupy  the 
redeemed  intellect  forever,  and  its  discovery  or  de- 
velopment is  to  constitute  one  of  the  chief  elements 
of  our  endless  felicity ;  but  what  must  be  the  vast- 
ness  and  variety  of  that  knowledge  which  is  con- 
stantly to  afford  fresh  interest  to  the  employments 
of  eternity !  and  how  can  we  hope  to  attain  unto  it 
in  this  brief  infancy  of  our  being  ?  ^ 

The  human  intellect  toiling  in  the  domain  of  truth 
has  been  likened  to  a  child  trying  to  empty  the 
ocean  with  a  shell  found  in  its  sands ;  but  the  ocean 
has  its  limits,  while  truth  is  unlimited  and  illimita- 
ble ;  and  with  eternity  for  a  lifetime,  all  the  efforts 
of  men  and  angels  must  fall  infinitely  short  of  its 

1  Bossuet. 


CHARITY  SURVIVING  KNOWLEDGE.  229 

exhaustion.  Poor  finite  creatures,  restricted  on  all 
sides,  and  embarrassed  with  a  thousand  difficulties, 
we  stand  upon  our  little  planet  and  cast  out  the 
sounding-line  of  our  tiny  reason  into  the  abysmal 
depths ;  we  trace  it  for  a  little  space,  a  faint  and 
wavering  thread  amidst  the  darkness ;  but  soon  it  is 
"  swallowed  up  and  lost  in  the  infinite  hollow  of  the 
night."  ^  There  are  subjects  yet  to  be  known,  which 
would  have  baffled  the  powers  of  the  most  illustrious 
philosophers,  as  much  as  their  sublimest  reasonings, 
noblest  discoveries,  and  grandest  intellectual  acqui- 
sitions, would  have  baffled  the  babe  or  the  idiot.  In 
the  great  mountain  ranges  of  truth,  we  see  here  and 
there  a  snowy  peak,  whence  gleams  the  blessed 
sunlight;  but  all  around  and  below  is  veiled  with 
impenetrable  clouds.  More  of 'the  other  world  we 
long  to  know,  of  its  mysterious  modes  of  being,  of 
the  condition  and  occupation  of  its  inhabitants,  and 
many  other  matters  of  which  we  are  utterly  ignorant ; 
but  if  all  the  knowledge  we  could  possibly  receive 
on  these  subjects  were  actually  communicated,  the 
current  activities  of  men  would  cease,  and  society 
would  stagnate.  Amidst  the  absorbing  glories  of  the 
heavenly  vision,  the  highest  concerns  of  earth  and 
time  would  seem  quite  insignificant  and  worthless  ; 
the  sweetest  enjoyments  and  noblest  pursuits  of  life 
would  cease  to  attract  us ;  and  man,  disqualified  for 
all  his  duties  to  his  fellow-man,  would  be  no  longer 
a  fit  denizen  of  this  terrestrial  sphere.  For  our  own 
good,  therefore,  for  the  accomplishment  of  our  pres- 
ent mission,  and  the  realization  of  God's  benevolent 

1  T.  Carlyle. 


230  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

design  concerning  us,  it  is  necessary,  as  another  has 
observed,  "  that  something  of  the  magnitude  of  truth 
should  be  concealed,  something  of  its  effulgence 
shaded,  something  of  its  beauty  veiled."  ^  But  such 
necessity  is  only  for  a  season;  a  better  day  shall 
dawn,  a  better  economy  shall  come ;  and  "  then  shall  I 
know  even  as  also  I  am  known." 

The  apostle's  reference  is  not  to  the  intermediate 
state  of  the  departed  spirit ;  but  to  the  resurrection 
state,  when  the  shattered  tenement  shall  be  restored, 
and  the  purified  spirit  shall  return  to  occupy  it  for- 
ever. Till  then  there  can  be  no  perfection  of  knowl- 
edge ;  but  then  all  knowledge  shall  be  perfect  — 
perfect  in  kind,  but  not  in  degree  —  faultless  in 
quality,  though  finite  in  comprehension — forever 
finite,  yet  forever  advancing  toward  the  infinite.^ 
This  is  "the  fulness  of  perfection,"  before  which  "all 
that  is  imperfect  shall  pass  away."  Now  we  see  the 
truth,  as  the  old  Jewish  teachers  phrased  it,  by 
means  of  an  obscure  specular,  as  one  might  see  his 
own  image  reflected  from  a  metallic  mirror,  or  the 
dim  outline  of  another  through  a  plate  of  horn  or  a 
translucent  stone  inserted  in  an  aperture  of  the  wall ; 
but  then  we  shall  behold  it  as  clearly  as  we  behold 
our  own  form  and  features  in  the  most  perfect  look- 
ing-glass, or  the  form  and  features  of  a  friend  when 
we  meet  him  face  to  face.  When  these  gloomy 
clouds  are  dissipated  by  the  rising  Sun  of  righteous- 
ness, and  the  dubious  twilight  gives  place  to  the 
everlasting  day ;  when  the  stern  embargo  which  the 

1  Dr.  Chalmers.  2  Dr.  Croly. 


CHAEITY  SURVIVING  KNOWLEDGE.  231 

fallen  spirit  has  laid  on  the  finite  intellect  shall  be 
removed,  and  the  redeemed  man  shall  stand  forth 
reconstructed  and  immortal ;  when  from  the  deep 
sleep  of  the  sepulclire,  summoned  by  the  voice  of 
the  archangel  and  the  trump  of  God,  we  shall  awake 
in  the  likeness  of  Him  who  is  the  resurrection  and 
the  life,  the  second  Adam,  the  Lord  from  heaven; 
then  shall  we  know  the  truth  as  we  are  known  of 
higher  and  holier  intelligences  —  then  shall  we  know 
God  even  as  we  are  known  of  him  —  with  the  same 
infallible  assurance,  though  not  with  the  same  infi- 
nite comprehension. 

What  amazing  developments  shall  we  then  enjoy 
of  what  now  seems  so  mysterious  and  inscrutable ! 
How  easily  may  we  understand  the  laws  which  gov- 
ern the  material  universe !  How  plain  and  simple 
may  seem  to  us  the  most  abstruse  and  occult  prin- 
ciples of  physical  nature,  concerning  which  a  single 
inquiry  has  sometimes  been  the  life-study  of  a  great 
philosopher !  How  far  above  all  the  earthly  attain- 
ments of  Linnaeus,  La  Place,  Cuvier,  Bacon,  New- 
ton, Davy,  Herschel,  Humboldt,  or  Agassiz,  will  the 
humblest  redeemed  soul  ascend  in  this  interesting 
department  of  knowledge,  rising  to  the  contempla- 
tion of  the  highest  mysteries  of  matter  and  of  motion, 
travelling  with  the  orb  and  analyzing  the  atom, 
everyAvhere  in  His  works  tracing  the  wisdom  of  the 
divine  Worker  and  admiring  the  wonders  of  his  love  ! 

And  then  shall  the  secrets  of  providence  be  dis- 
closed—  that  amazing  scheme,  so  vast,  so  profound, 
so  complicate,  and  so  inscrutable  —  comprehending 
the  moral  government  of  God,  the  annals  of  other 


232  PAULINE   CHAKITY. 

worlds,  the  history  of  men  and  angels,  the  whole 
range  of  events,  from  the  formation  of  the  first  par- 
ticle to  the  last  vicissitude  of  matter,  from  the 
constitution  of  the  first  created  mind  to  the  final 
adjustment  of  all  creature  destiny,  with  all  their  re- 
lations and  tendencies  and  their  manifold  reasons 
and  results  —  the  separate  existence  of  each  individ- 
ual, the  continuity  of  the  complex  series,  and  the 
harmony  of  the  mighty  whole.  Providence  is  at  pres- 
ent a  great  enigma  —  rather,  a  congeries  of  innumer- 
able enigmas  —  utterly  confounding  to  our  reason  and 
beyond  all  human  power  of  solution ;  and  even  an 
inspired  man,  standing  upon  the  brink  of  the  abyss 
and  looking  down  into  the  infinite  darkness,  ex- 
claims —  "  Oh !  the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the 
wisdom  and  of  the  knowledge  of  God !  how  un- 
searchable are  his  judgments,  and  his  ways  past  find- 
ing out !  "  And  when  Jehovah  shall  at  length  lay 
open  to  us  the  arcana  of  his  empire,  with  what  de- 
lightful wonder  and  rapturous  admiration  shall  we 
witness  the  grand  disclosure,  and  learn  that  those 
parts  of  his  plan  now  so  paradoxical  and  so  perplex- 
ing to  our  faith  were  dark  only  from  excess  of 
splendor,  and  that  the  very  events  which  to-day  baf- 
fle our  sagacity  and  sometimes  lacerate  our  affections 
yield  ultimately  the  clearest  instances  and  richest 
demonstrations  of  his  wisdom  and  his  goodness !  ^ 

And  each  one  of  us  shall  then  be  able  to  read  that 
most  interesting  page. in  the  volume  of  providence 
which  records  his  own  personal  history.     It  is  writ- 
ten chiefly  in  characters  that  none  but  the  Wiiter 
1  Bossuet. 


CHARITY   SURVIVING  KNOWLEDGE.  233 

can  now  understand.     We   gaze    upon    the    mystic 
hieroglyphics,   and   we    know   that   they   contain    a 
secret  whose  development  shall  send  a  new  sunshine 
through  a  thousand  worlds,  but  we  cannot  interpret 
the  record  till  heaven  shall  furnish  us  the  key.     In 
our  impatience  we  ask  for  reasons,  we  seek  explana- 
tions, but  Providence  is  silent  as  Isis.     ''  God  giveth 
none  account  of  any  of  his  matters."     He  gathers 
the  clouds  about  him,  and  pavilions  his  presence  in 
the  thick  darkness.     We  hear  the  sound  of  his  goings, 
but  ''  his  paths  are  in  the  great  deep,  and  his  foot- 
steps are  not  known."     Even  the  good  man  is  some- 
times tempted  to  exclaim,    "All   these    things    are 
against  me."     But  faith  hears  him  saying  —  "What 
I  do,  thou  knowest  not  now,  but  thou  shalt  know 
hereafter."     Faith  grasps  his  hand  and  follows  him 
trusting  through  the  night,  well  assured  that  in  the 
light  of  the  morning  she  shall  look  back  upon  the 
path  by  which  he  hath  led  her,  and  see  all  things 
clearly,  and  rejoice  in  the  wisdom  of  all.     God  him- 
self shall  interpret  for  us  the  mysterious  scroll ;  and 
every  one  shall  perceive  the  connection  of  his  indi- 
vidual life  with  the  general  scheme  of  the  divine 
administration;   and   with   unspeakable   satisfaction 
shall  understand  how  all  the  diversified  events  of  his 
probation  were  combined  and  overruled  for  his  good ; 
and  how,  amidst  the  brier  and  the  thorn,  in  a  way 
that  he  knew  not  and  by  a  hand  that  he  could  not 
see,  he  was  led  to  the  place  of  rest;  and  how,  in 
unfathomable  depths  of  grief  and  gloom,  "  light  was 
sown  for  the  righteous  and  joy  for  the  upright  in 
heart,"  and  the  full  harvest  of  celestial  blessedness 


234  PAULINE   CHAEITY. 

and  glory  grew  upon  fields  which  he  tilled  in  sorrow 
and  watered  with  frequent  tears. 

Revelation  itself  is  a  mystery  that  waits  to  be 
revealed.  Eternity  must  furnish  the  school  for  the 
effectual  study  of  the  Infinite.  "Canst  thou  by 
searching  find  out  God?  canst  thou  find  out  the 
Almighty  to  perfection  ?  it  is  high  as  heaven,  what 
canst  thou  do?  deeper  than  hell,  what  canst  thou 
know?  the  measure  thereof  is  longer  than  the  earth 
and  broader  than  the  sea."  The  mystery  of  the 
Divine  Essence,  the  mode  of  the  Divine  Subsistence, 
the  tri-personality  of  the  uncreated  Life,  or  any  of 
his  natural  and  incommunicable  perfections,  who  is 
able  to  comprehend  ?  The  recorded  fact  of  the 
incarnation,  the  complex  person  of  the  Mediator 
between  God  and  man,  the  perfect  harmony  of  holi- 
ness and  justice  with  mercy  in  the  mighty  sacrifice 
of  the  cross,  and  the  precise  relations  of  the  gospel 
economy  to  the  destinies  of  humanity  and  the  moral 
fortunes  of  the  universe  throughout  all  the  everlast- 
ing future,  who  is  competent  to  explain  ?  We  seize 
a  few  statements  of  the  wonderful  Book,  and  imagine 
that  we  understand  their  meaning;  but,  "without 
controversy,  great  is  the  mystery  of  godliness." 
We  have  found  the  Ararat  whereon  may  rest  the  ark 
of  our  salvation ;  but  till  the  deluge  subside  all  else 
must  remain  unknown.  We  cling  to  the  Rock  of 
Ages;  but  we  have  no  bark  in  which  we  may  go 
forth  to  explore  the  surrounding  sea,  and  no  line 
suflQcient  to  measure  the  depth  of  the  waters.  Pil- 
grims of  the  night,  we  walk  forward  till  our  little 
lamps  burn  out,  and  then  we  grope  a  little  farther  in 


CHARITY  SURVIVING   KNOWLEDGE.  235 

the  gloom,  become  bewildered,  lose  our  way,  and  sit 
down  to  wait  for  the  returning  ''  Light  of  the  world." 
Our   polar  winter-night   of   six  thousand   years,   or 
sixty  thousand,  shall  be  succeeded  by  an  unsetting 
sun,  and  the  antiphrases  of  time  shall  become  the 
axioms  of  eternity.     Then  we  shall  have  as  clear  a 
view  of  the   divine    character   and   government   as 
angels  now  enjoy,  and  shall  go  on  forever  improving 
in  our  knowledge  of  revelation  revealed.     The  cross 
we  shall  behold,  not  as  the  first  Christian  emperor  be- 
held it  in  the  clouds  of  heaven  —  the  mere  symbol  of 
truth  and  pledge  of  victory  ;  but  as  it  is  in  reality  — 
the  central  point  in  the  divine  economy,  bright  with 
unborrowed  radiance,  and  sending  out  its  beams  to 
all  the  extremities  of  the  moral  system ;  and  in  this 
development  of  the  manifold  wisdom  of  God,  saints 
and  seraphim  alike  shall  find  new  matter  for  adoring 
wonder,  blending  the  harmonies  of  both  in  one  eter- 
nal song.     Then  "  the  light  of  the  moon  shall  be  as 
the  light  of  the  sun;  and  the  light  of  the  sun  shall 
be  sevenfold,  as  the  light  of  seven  days;"  and  no 
cloud  shall  ever  flit  across  the  sky ;  and  no  shadow 
shall  stretch  over  the  landscape  ;  and  the  obscurest 
object  of  faith  shall  be  clear  as  the  crystal  gold  at 
our  feet ;  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  Lamb,  which 
illumines   the   jewelled   walls,    shall    shine    through 
every  soul ;  and  as  we  have  heard,  so  shall  we  see  in 
the  city  of  our  God ;  and  blessed  beyond  all  power 
of  language  and  of  thought  shall  he  be  who  has  be- 
lieved the  record  and  waited  for  the  reward ! 

What  an  interesting  view  is  thus  suggested  of  the 


236  PAULINE   CHAEITY. 

intellectual  pursuits  and  pleasures  of  the  world  to 
come  !  In  that  nobler  life  all  the  mental  powers 
must  find  full  employment,  and  no  small  portion  of 
our  happiness  must  arise  from  our  endless  advance- 
ment in  knowledge. 

Very  different,  we  are  well  aware,  are  the  common 
notions  of  mankind.  To  construct  for  themselves 
an  everlasting  habitation,  they  naturally  collect  their 
materials  from  the  various  objects  in  which  they 
most  delight.  The  Elysium  of  the  Greeks  and  Ro- 
mans, the  Walhalla  of  the  Scandinavians,  the  para- 
dise of  the  Mohammedans,  the  fantastic  heaven  of 
the  Hindoos,  the  celestial  carousals  of  the  Africans, 
and  the  happy  hunting-grounds  of  the  American 
Indians,  are  all  suggested  by  their  own  corrupt  im- 
aginations and  adapted  to  their  depraved  appetites 
and  passions.  Beyond  the  pleasures  of  the  seraglio, 
or  the  crimson  field  of  glory,  or  the  hall  resounding 
with  hilarity,  and  cities,  and  temples,  and  mansions, 
and  gardens,  and  sylvan  scenes,  replete  with  all  the 
accumulated  delights  of  sense,  the  human  mind, 
unaided  by  divine  revelation,  and  left  entirely  to  its 
own  resources,  never  looked  for  the  elements  of  its 
future  bliss. 

And  little  more  worthy  of  a  rational  nature,  we 
are  sorry  to  say,  is  the  ordinary  conception  even  of 
the  Christian  heaven.  Sensuous  souls  love  to  think 
of  it  as  a  great  festival,  where  there  is  plenty  of  wine, 
and  sumptuous  viands,  and  delicate  condiments,  in 
endless  variety  and  profusion.  And  persons  of  re- 
finement and  aesthetic  culture  love  to  think  of  it  as  a 
grand  concert,  with  full  orchestra,  and  the  blended 


CHARITY  SURVIVING  KNOWLEDGE.  237 

rmisic  of  many  voices,  ringing  through  lofty  galleries 
and  magnificent  colonnades,  and  reverberating  from 
arches  of  fretted  gold  and  domes  that  flash  with  the 
diamond  and  the  amethyst.  And  those  whose  reli- 
gion is  all  emotion  and  rhapsody  love  to  think  of  it 
as  a  scene  of  perpetual  w^orship  in  the  immediate 
presence  of  the  manifest  glory  of  God,  where  spirits 
are  lost  in  transports  of  joy  and  unimaginable  rap- 
tures of  song  —  a  better  sort  of  camp-meeting  in  the 
skies,  all  tongues  forever  pouring  most  vociferous 
praise,  all  hearts  forever  thrilling  with  unknown 
delights.  And  softer  and  gentler  spirits  talk  of  ten- 
der re-unions  and  eternal  friendships ;  while  soaring 
and  ambitious  minds  picture  to  themselves  thrones 
and  diadems,  nobilities  and  hierarchies,  and  all  the 
glories  of  sovereign  dominion  ]  and  such  as  are  fond 
of  ease  and  self-indulgence  —  indolent  souls,  as  unfit 
for  heaven  as  they  are  for  earth  —  dream  of  downy 
repose  and  blissful  inaction,  lulled  by  gentle  breeze, 
and  murmuring  brook,  and  strains  of  softest  melody, 
in  regions  of  perpetual  peace. 

Few  are  those,  indeed,  who  are  accustomed  to  con- 
template the  future  life  as  an  intellectual  condition. 
Occupied  with  mere  sensations,  the  greater  part  are 
but  little  acquainted  with  the  higher  pleasures  of 
thought  and  the  purer  joys  of  knowledge.  The  ac- 
cumulation of  riches,  the  gratification  of  appetite, 
and  the  achievement  of  wordly  renown,  constitute 
with  the  majority  the  supreme  good  and  chief  end 
of  man.  Only  those  who  have  devoted  themselves, 
in  some  degree  at  least,  to  intellectual  occupations 
and  pursuits,  can  appreciate  those  enjoyments  which 


238  PAULINE  CHAEITY. 

knowledge  alone  inspires.  Evidence  to  the  mind  is 
like  light  to  the  eye,  and  the  apprehension  of  truth 
is  like  the  discovery  of  a  fountain  in  the  desert. 
Even  the  barren  sciences  of  number  and  quantity 
have  an  indescribable  charm  to  him  who  seeks  the 
solid  ground  of  certainty,  and  can  repose  nowhere 
in  the  cloudy  regions  of  conjecture  and  hypothesis. 
What  exquisite  satisfaction  has  often  resulted  from 
a  demonstration  after  a  long  course  of  reasoning! 
And  if  the  development  of  a  principle  in  physics 
made  the  grave  philosopher  so  far  forget  himself  as 
to  leap  exulting  from  the  bath  and  run  naked  through 
the  streets  proclaiming  the  discovery;  if  the  great 
mathematician  found  such  delightful  occupation  of 
his  powers  in  a  mere  geometrical  amusement  that, 
when  the  city  was  taken  and  a  soldier  presented  him- 
self with  drawn  sword  in  his  chamber,  he  requested 
only  permission  to  finish  his  problem ;  if  now,  when 
the  subjects  of  our  inquiry  are  often  so  insignifi- 
cant and  unworthy,  and  our  mental  acquisitions  are 
achieved  with  such  exhaustion  of  our  energies,  such 
sacrifice  of  health,  such  abbreviation  of  life  —  when 
our  knowledge  is  limited  by  so  much  ignorance,  ob- 
scured by  so  much  incertitude,  and  blended  with  so 
many  deteriorating  errors  —  the  pleasure  of  the  pur- 
suit has  such  an  overmastering  fascination  and  the 
results  obtained  such  an  unspeakable  satisfaction  ;  — 
how  will  it  be  "when  the  fulness  of  perfection  is 
come,"  and  we  "know  even  as  we  are  known "?i 

1  Thomas  Dick. 


CHABITY  IN  EELATION  TO  FAITH  AND  HOPE.      239 


XVIII. 

CHARITY  IN  RELATION  TO  FAITH  AND  HOPE. 

And  now  abideth  faith^  hope,  charity  —  these  three;  but  the 
greatest  of  these  is  charity.  —  1  Cor.  xiii.  13. 

At  Domo  d'Osola,  twenty-five  years  ago,  I  visited 
a  convent  seated  on  the  apex  of  a  steep  conical 
mountain.  The  path  by  which  I  ascended  wound  to 
and  fro,  in  a  most  picturesque  manner,  up  the  rug- 
ged acclivity ;  and  at  every  turn  stood  a  little  chapel 
called  a  station,  containing  an  artistic  representation 
of  some  passage  in  our  Saviour's  passion,  at  which 
the  devout  pilgrim  might  pause  and  worship  as  he 
toiled  upward  to  the  more  sacred  edifice  at  the  sum- 
mit. There  were,  in  succession,  as  I  now  recollect, 
the  Last  Supper,  the  walk  to  Olivet,  the  agony  in  the 
garden,  the  weary  disciples  asleep,  the  soldiers  com- 
ing with  torches,  the  fateful  kiss  of  the  traitor,  the 
scene  in  the  high  priest's  hall,  the  shameful  denial 
by  Peter,  the  examination  before  Pilate  and  Herod, 
the  cruel  mockery  and  scourging,  the  holy  Victim 
fainting  beneath  his  cross,  and  last  of  all,  in  a  spa- 
cious and  splendid  hall  above,  where  a  priest  was 
saying  mass,  and  acolytes  were  swinging  censers, 
and  the  fratti  were  chanting  litanies,  a  touching 
portrayal  of  the  crucifixion  —  the  crowning  act  of 
redeeming  love. 


240  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

Thus,  following  St.  Paul  through  this  wonderful 
chapter,  we  ascend  from  one  view  of  charity  to 
another,  each  successive  aspect  more  interesting  and 
more  impressive  than  the  preceding,  till  we  find  it  at 
length,  adorned  with  all  its  graces  and  complete  in 
all  its  perfections,  enthroned  in  royal  supremacy  over 
all  other  virtues,  amidst  the  glories  and  harmonies  of 
its  native  heaven. 

As  there  is  a  Trinity  of  divine  Persons  in  the  God- 
head, so  is  there  a  trinity  of  Christian  virtues  in  the 
regenerate  and  sanctified  soul.  The  three  Divine 
Persons,  however,  are  consubstantial  and  co-equal  — 
one  in  essence,  power  and  glory ;  whereas  the  three 
Christian  virtues,  though  of  the  same  origin,  differ 
in  rank  and  quality,  charity  being  superior  to  faith 
and  hope. 

The  apostle,  having  spoken  of  miraculous  endow- 
ments as  temporary  and  all  human  knowledge  as 
transitory,  thus,  according  to  Conybeare  and  Howson 
—  preferable  perhaps  to  our  Authorized  Version  — 
concludes  his  magnificent  account  of  the  imperial 
virtue :  —  "  Yet,  while  other  gifts  shall  pass  away, 
these  three  —  faith,  hope  and  love  —  abide  forever ; 
and  the  greatest  of  these  is  love."  We  shall  ex- 
haust the  subject,  if  we  consider  first  the  correla- 
tions of  the  three,  and  then  the  supremacy  of  the 
third. 

Miraculous  and  inspirational  powers  were  long  ago 
withdrawn  from  the  Church  ;■  but  faith,  hope  and 
charity  still  remain,  as  her  permanent  endowment 
and  inalienable  inheritance.     The  former,  coming  as 


CHAKITY  IN  RELATION  TO  FAITH  AND  HOPE.      241 

witnesses  to  the  gospel,  retired  as  soon  as  they  had 
delivered  their  testimony ;  but  the  latter,  being  of 
the  very  essence  of  the  gospel,  co-operate  to  bless 
mankind  to  the  end  of  time.  Those  were  the  royal 
insignia  of  Christianity,  attesting  its  heavenly  origin 
and  commending  its  beneficent  mission ;  but  these 
three  are  the  most  vital  elements  of_jQhristianity, 
abiding  as  now  related  and  associated,  till  their" 
blessed  work  is  consummated  in  the  introduction  of 
a  more  perfect  economy,  and  the  Church  enters  into 
her  millennial  rest.  They  are  all  products  of  the 
same  Holy  Spirit,  and  alike  essential  to  the  Christian 
character.  Differing  widely  in  their  nature,  they 
unite  their  several  offices  for  the  production  of  a 
common  beneficent  result.  Faith  believes,  hope  ex- 
pects, charity  enjoys.  Faith  grasps  the  unseen,  hope 
waits  for  the  future,  charity  appropriates  the  infinite. 
Faith  brings  "the  peace  of  God,"  hope  exercises  "the 
patience  of  saints,"  charity  opens  the  gates  of  heaven 
and  imparadises  the  soul  upon  earth.  Faith  saith, 
"  There  are  good  things  prepared  for  me ; "  hope 
cries^  "  I  see  them,  and  shall  soon  enjoy  them  as  my 
own;"  charity,  as  joint-heir  with  the  Divine  Be- 
loved, stretcheth  forth  her  hands  exclaiming,  "  They 
are  mine  already,  and  I  have  within  my  heart  the 
conscious  earnest  of  their  possession."  Faith  touches 
hope  at  the  point  of  expectation,  for  it  has  something 
of  the  expectation  of  hope ;  hope  touches  charity  at 
the  point  of  desire,  for  it  has  something  of  the  desire 
of  charity;  while  charity  embraces  them  both,  re- 
joicing in  their  fellowship  with  joy  unspeakable  and 
full  of  glory.     And  thus,  like  the  colors  of  the  rain- 


242  PAULINE   CHARITY. 

bow,  the}^  maintain  their  distinction,  shading^off  into 
each  other  by  insensible  degrees.^ 

But  mark  the  difference.  Faith  is  belief  and  trust, 
founded  upon  testimony ;  hope  is  the  desire  and  ex- 
pectation of  some  good,  real  or  imaginary;  charity 
is  disinterested  love  to  man,  arising  from  supreme 
love  to  God.  Faith  relates  to  things  both  good  and 
bad ;  hope  and  charity,  only  to  things  good.  Faith 
relates  to  the  past,  tlie  present,  and  the  future  ;  hope, 
to  the  future  only;  and  charity,  to  the  present. 
There  may  be  faith  without  hope ;  but  there  can  be 
no  hope  without  faith  ;  and  both  faith  and  hope  min- 
ister to  charity.  Devils  believe,  but  they  neither 
hope  nor  love;  angels  love,  but  strictly  speaking 
they  cannot  believe  because  they  know,  neither  can 
they  hope  for  that  which  they  already  enjoy.  Faith 
and  hope  are  proper  to  fallen  beings  only ;  charity, 
both  to  the  fallen  and  to  the  unfallen.  Faith  and 
hope  belong  to  this  world ;  charity,  to  this  world 
and  the  next.  Faith  may  be  mingled  with  doubts,  and 
hope  may  be  clouded  with  fears ;  but  charity,  secure 
in  the  possession  of  an  everlasting  good,  triurpphs 
over  both.  We  are  to  be  "  strong  in  faith,"  and  to 
"  abound  in  hope ; "  but  in  charity  alone  are  we 
"made  perfect."  Faith  is  our  shield,  and  hope  is 
our  helmet ;  but  charity  is  the  victor's  crown.  Faith 
overcometh  the  world,  and  hope  reacheth  to  that 
within  the  veil ;  but  it  is  charity  that  identifies  us  in 
sympathy -with  heaven,  and  unites  us  to  the  fellow- 
ship of  those  who  walk  in  the  glory  of  God. 

But  when  it  is  said  these  three  abide,  are  we  to 

1  Thomas  H.  Stockton. 


CHARITY  IN  RELATION  TO  FAITH  AND  HOPE.      243 

understand  it  of  these  three  alone?  St.  Peter,  in 
the  first  chapter  of  iiis  second  epistle,  mentions  eight 
Christian  graces ;  and  St.  Paul  himself,  in  the  fifth 
chapter  of  his  letter  to  the  Galatians,  enumerates 
nine.  Why  then  does  he  here  speak  of  only  three  ? 
Are  all  the  others  superfluous,  or  can  any  of  them 
well  be  spared?  Nay,  verily;  but  they  are  all  so 
connected  with  these  three  —  so  dependent  upon 
them  and  involved  in  them  —  that  where  these  are  i 
the  others  must  be.  These  are  the  three  princes /I // 
the  others  are  their  retinue.  These  are  the  three  ^ 
primary  colors ;  the  others  are  their  various  combi- 
nations and  modifications.  These  are  the  three  trees 
of  righteousness ;  the  others  are  their  numerous 
branches,  with  their  diversified  flowers  and  fruits. 
The  continuance  of  all,  therefore,  is  implied  in  the 
continuance  of  faith,  hope  and  charity. 

Are  we  to  infer,  then,  that  these  three  maintain 
their  present  correlations  forever,  faith  and  hope 
entering  with  charity  into  the  more  glorious  dispen- 
sation to  come  ?  This  cannot  be.  Charity,  of  course, 
is  imperishable ;  but  faith  and  hope  belong  only  to 
the  present  imperfect  state,  and  must  disappear  with 
the  incoming  of  the  promised  perfection.  Faith, 
relating  to  things  unseen  and  unknown,  rests  upon 
report  or  testimony ;  but  when  testimony  is  super- 
seded by  actual  vision,  faith  must  give  place  to  per- 
fect knowledge.  Hope,  relating  to  some  good  yet  in 
the  future,  relies  upon  the  infallible  promise  of  God ; 
but  wlien  the  future  becomes  the  present,  and  the 
infallible  promise  is  fulfilled,  the  saints,  entering  upon 
their  inheritance,  can  no  longer  hope  for  what  they 


244  PAULINE  CHAEITY. 

possess  and  enjoy.  Throughout  this  preparatory  dis- 
pensation, charity  leads  faith  with  one  hand  and 
hope  with  the  other;  but  when  that  which  is  per- 
fect is  come,  she  shall  leave  her  two  companions 
behind,  as  Elijah  left  Elisha  when  he  "  went  up  by  a 
whirlwind  into  heaven."  Having  finished  their  work 
and  attained  their  end,  faith  and  hope  shall  cease ; 
but  charity's  work  is  never  done,  charity's  end  is 
never  reached,  and  so  charity  must  abide  forever, 
and  therefore  "the  greatest  of  these  is  charity." 

Certainly,  no  one  will  suspect  the  apostle  of  an 
intentional  depreciation  of  faith  and  hope;  for 
throughout  this  epistle,  as  everywhere  in  his  writ- 
ings, the  finest  things  are  said  of  both.  Faith  is 
constantly  presented  as  the  one  comprehensive  con- 
dition of  our  salvation ;  and  hope,  as  our  chief  con- 
solation in  the  house  of  our  pilgrimage.  Through 
^all  the  dreary  night  of  time,  faith  is  the  staff  on 
which  we  lean,  and  hope  is  the  star  to  which  we  look. 
Our  faith  is  "precious,"  "most  holy,"  productive  of 
"all  good  works,"  and  the  perennial  spring  of  "joy 
unspeakable ; "  while  "  we  are  saved  by  hope,"  and 
"hope  maketh  not  ashamed,"  for  it  is  the  "anchor 
of  the  soul,  sure  and  steadfast,  which  entereth  to 
that  within  the  veil." 

Nor  are  we  to  conclude  that  charity  is  in  all 
respects  their  superior.  On  the  contrary,  faith  and 
hope  are  in  some  respects  superior  to  charity.  The 
prince  may  excel  the  peasant ;  but  the  latter  is  the 
better  man  at  the  plough,  or  in  the  harvest-field. 
The  philosopher  may  excel  the  mechanic  ;  though  he 


CHARITY  IN  RELATION  TO  FAITH  AND  HOPE.      245 

cannot  build  a  house,  nor  shoe  a  horse,  nor  manage  a 
locomotive.  A  man  is  certainl}^  better  than  a  beast ; 
but  who  will  say  that  he  can  outrun  a  hound,  draw 
more  than  an  ox,  or  bear  a  heavier  burden  than  an 
elephant?  So  faith  and  hope,  in  their  respective 
offices,  perform  what  were  impossible  to  charity. 
Each  of  the  three  has  its  own  particular  sphere,  in 
which  it  excels  both  the  others ;  but  the  sphere  of 
charity  is  nobler  than  the  respective  spheres  of  faith 
and  hope,  and  therefore  "the  greatest  of  these  is 
charity."  Let  us  look  a  little  more  closely  into  this 
asserted  superiority. 

First,  faith  and  hope  are  the  means ;  charity  is  4f     . 
the  end  to  be  attained.     The  former  are  the  streams ;      ^^^ 
the   latter   is   the   ocean   where   they   empty.     The    ' 'i        . 
former  are  the  tillage ;  the  latter  is  the  harvest  in      '        -^ 
which  they  issue.     The  former  are  the  weapons  ;  the 
latter  is  the   glorious   victory  which  they  achieve. 
Faith   and   hope  look  beyond  themselves  to  some- 
thing better;  charity  is  itself  the  sweetest  and  no- 
blest thing  in  earth  or  heaven.     Faith  "justifieth," 
hope  "  purifieth,"  charity  "  edifieth."     Faith  has  its 
"work,"  hope  has  its  "patience,"  but  "the  end  of 
the  commandment  is  charity."     Faith  toils  through 
the  wilderness,  hope  waits  on  the  brink  of  Jordan,  ^ 

but  charity  already  inherits   the   land   of  promise.  A/^^^*^^ 
Faith  and  hope  are  ancillary  graces ;  charity  is  tlie      ->^ 
supreme  virtue.     They  are  the  maids  of  honor  be- 
side the  throne ;  charity  sits  a  queen  between  them. 
They  are  the  ministers  of  salvation ;  charity  is  the 
salvation  itself. 

P^urther,  faith  and  hope  may  be  selfish ;  charity  is 


/ 


246  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

essentially  disinterested.  The  former  regard  chiefly 
the  good  of  their  possessor;  the  latter  delights  in 
benefiting  others.  The  former  bring  healing  and 
consolation  to  my  own  heart ;  the  latter  rejoices  to 
pour  the  oil  and  wine  into  my  brother's  wounds. 
They  are  God's  beneficiaries ;  this  is  man's  benefac- 
tress. They  are  the  two  hands  which  receive  the 
gift ;  this  is  the  winged  messenger  that  goes  forth 
to  scatter  it  over  the  earth.  They  are  the  planets, 
shining  with  borrowed  beams ;  this  is  the  sun,  kin- 
dling their  opacity  into  splendor.  They  are  the 
thirsty  acres,  imbibing  the  blessing  of  the  clouds ; 
this  is  the  perennial  fountain,  sending  its  fertilizing 
streams  over  the  landscape.  Faith  makes  us  heirs 
of  salvation,  and  hope  enables  us  to  rejoice  in  the 
earnest  of  the  inheritance;  but  charity  lives  for 
others,  an  angel  visitant  in  prison-houses,  and  a 
ministering  seraph  at  the  couch  of  death.^  Faith 
and  hope  are  two  beautiful  stars,  cheering  with  their 
beams  the  pilgrims  of  the  night ;  charity  is  the  rising 
sun,  that  throws  his  vivifying  light  over  the  world, 
and  forbears  not  to  bless  even  the  soil  that  bears 
pnly  briers  and  thorns. 

faith  and  hope  are  simply  human  virtues; 

also  a  divine  perfection.  There  is  nothing 
alogous  to  the  former ;  for  how  can  he 
believe  or  hope,  whose  knowledge  is  infinite  and 
whose  happiness  is  perfect  ?  But  "  God  is  love,  and 
he  that  dwelleth  in  love  dwelleth  in  God,  and  God 
in  him."  Love  is  the  sum  of  all  God's  moral  perfec- 
tions, and  by  no  other  single  term  has  he  ever  de- 

1  Thomas  Adams. 


/ 


ft  j,!E»ily  briers 
^Jyfi  Again,  fo 
J<?V^  If  charity  is  a 
/^      r    in   God  an 


CHAEITY  IN  RELATION  TO  FAITH  ANB  HOPE.      247 

fined  his  moral  nature.  His  love  is  free  as  the  air 
and  diffusive  as  the  light  —  constant  as  the  dew  and 
copious  as  the  rain  —  more  tender  than  a  father's, 
more  pitiful  than  a  mother's,  more  bountiful  than  a 
monarch's,  more  sedulous  than  a  spouse's,  and  more 
faithful  than  any  friend's.  The  more  perfect  our 
charity,  therefore,  the  more  we  resemble  God ;  and 
if  it  were  a  glory  to  be  like  Homer  in  genius,  like 
Bacon  in  learning,  like  Humboldt  in  science,  like 
Solomon  in  wisdom,  and  like  Cicero  in  eloquence  — 
if  it  were  a  greater  glory  to  be  like  Enoch  in  sanc- 
tity, Noah  in  righteousness,  Abraham  in  faith,  Jacob 
in  prayer,  Joseph  in  purity,  Moses  in  meekness, 
Joshua  in  valor,  David  in  praise,  Elijah  in  zeal, 
Daniel  in  fidelity,  and  St.  Paul  in  every  moral  ex- 
cellence,—  what  is  it  to  be  like  God  in  charity,  "par- 
takers of  the  divine  nature,"  and  "  one  spirit  with 
the  Lord  "  ?  Faith  draws  nigh  to  God,  and  hope  still 
cleaves  to  him  ;  but  charity  establishes  with  him  an 
habitual  fellowship,  a  vital  union  of  the  soul.  As 
Peter,  James  and  John  together  witnessed  the  Sav- 
iour's transfiguration,  but  John  alone  leaned  upon 
his  breast  at  supper ;  so  faith,  hope  and  charity  all 
behold  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ, 
but  charity  only  lies  familiarly  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Lord. 

Once  more,  faith  and. hope  cannot  exist  without 
charity ;  charity  is  capable  of  an  independent  life. 
I  find  this  thouo-ht  so  well  elaborated  in  one  of  the 
"Tremadoc  Sermons,"  that  I  need  make  no  apology 
for  presenting  the  passage  in  the  very  words  of  the 
author.     "If  it  were  possible  to  conceive  of  faith 


248  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

and  hope  as  unallied  with  love  —  if  it  were  possible 
to  conceive  of  a  faith  under  the  influence  of  which 
a  man's  only  thought  was  for  himself  and  how  to 
save  his  own  soul  —  if  it  were  possible  to  conceive  of 
a  hope  alongside  of  which  there  grew  up  no  loving 
desire  to  aid  others  on  the  path  that  leads  to  God 
—  such  a  faith  and  such  a  hope  would  be  the  twin 
essentials  of  a  deathful  selfishness.  .  .  .  But  true 
faith  and  true  hope  cannot  be  conceived  of  as  sun- 
dered from  divine  love.  Without  the  charity  which 
belie veth  all  things  and  hopeth  all  things,  faith  and 
hope  cannot  exist.  Faith  and  hope  abiding  thus  in 
union  with  love  have  more  especial  reference  to  our 
own  individual  life,  our  own  individual  growth  in 
spiritual  knowledge ;  while  divine  love  or  charity 
has  reference  to  the  fuller  life  of  Christ  manifested 
in  the  lives  of  all  the  members  of  his  Church.  A  life 
of  which  divine  love  is  the  very  source  is  a  life  of 
loving  union  with  all  around  us  —  a  life  of  loving 
recognition  of  the  efforts  which  others  are  making  to 
grow  up  into  union  with  the  Lord.  It  is  more  than 
this;  it  is  a  life  of  loving  sympathy  with  all  men, 
with  men  of  all  lands,  and  of  all  branches  of  the 
Christian  Church  —  a  life  of  sympathy  even  with 
men  whose  thoughts  are  not  as  our  own  — a  life  of 
charity  even  toward  error  for  the  sake  of  the  truth 
which  in  the  error  finds  imperfect  expression — a 
life  of  sympathy  with  the  distressed  amongst  our 
brethren  on  earth  —  a  life  of  sympathy  with  the 
great  life  of  humanity  in  the  past  —  a  life  of  ever- 
increasing  recognition  of  the  truth  that  the  lives  of 
all  good  men  are  manifestations  to  us  of  the  life 


CHARITY  IN  RELATION  TO  FAITH  AND  HOPE.      249 

of  God  —  a  life  of  loving  union  with  the  saints  who 
were  once  on  earth,  and  who  are  still  near  us  in  the 
spiritual  world  which  encircles  us  and  underlies  the 
visible  —  above  all,  a  life  of  humble  and  lowly  imita- 
tion of  the  loving  life  of  Christ,  in  which  life  of 
imitation  we  shall  rise  to  the  blessings  of  everlasting 
union  with  him  and  with  all  the  saints  in  glory  — 
everlasting  union  in  divine  love — in  that  charity 
which  is  the  greatest  of  all  heavenly  gifts."  ^ 

Finally,  faith  and  hope  find  their  mission  finished 
in  the  present  world ;  charity  waits  for  its  consum- 
mation and  its  triumph  in  the  world  to  come.  Need- 
ing her  two  travelling  companions  during  the  night, 
she  will  cheerfully  dismiss  them  in  the  morning. 
They  will  both  follow  her  to  the  brink  of  the  dark 
river ;  but  there  she  will  take  leave  of  them,  and  go 
over  alone  to  the  New  Jerusalem.  Aaron  and  Hur 
must  stay  up  the  hands  of  Moses  as  long  as  the 
battle  lasts;  but  when  Amalek  is  routed  and  scat- 
tered, their  offices  are  no  longer  needed,  and  they 
retire.  Having  passed  the  last  scene  of  conflict  and 
danger,  the  Church  lays  down  "  the  shield  of  faith  " 
to  take  up  the  palm  of  victory,  and  puts  off  "the 
helmet  of  hope  "  to  deck  her  brow  with  the  "  crown 
of  glory ; "  but,  divested  of  all  her  warrior  panoply, 
she  still  wears  the  white  robe  of  charity,  and  walks 
therein  with  the  Lamb  upon  Mount  Zion.  Faith  and 
hope  are  the  Moses  and  Aaron  that  guide  the  Israel 
of  God  through  the  wilderness ;  charity  is  the  Joshua 
that  leads  the  people  into  the  promised  land,  and  di- 
vides to  them  the  inheritance. ^     Faith  yields  to  sight, 

1  The  Rev.  H.  N.  Grimley,  M.A.  2  John  Summerfield. 


250  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

and  hope  becomes  fruition;  but  charity,  immortal 
and  immutable,  must  ever  be  the  essential  felicity  of 
men  and  angels.  In  this  world,  charity,  like  knowl- 
edge, is  necessarily  imperfect;  "but  when  the  ful- 
ness of  perfection  is  come,"  its  dross  shall  all  have 
been  purged  away,  and  nothing  but  the  pure  metal 
shall  remain.  And  oh !  what  scope  shall  the 
heavenly  affection  find  in  blissful  re-union  with  the 
friends  we  have  loved  and  lost,  with  the  "glorious 
company  of  the  apostles,"  "  the  goodly  fellowship  of 
the  prophets,"  "the  noble  army  of  martyrs,"  the 
heroic  reformers  of  later  times,  and  all  who  ever 
bore  the  image  and  the  reproach  of  Christ,  who  are 
now  resting  with  God  in  joy  and  felicity  —  with  all 
the  elder  children  of  the  infinite  Father,  "  the  innu- 
merable company  of  angels,"  beings  of  light  and  love 
that  never  sinned  nor  suffered,  whose  radiant  forms 
shed  lustre  over  the  hills  of  God,  whose  starlike  eyes 
shall  smite  you  through  and  through  with  ecstasy  — 
no  enemy  or  alien  in  all  the  multitude,  no  stranger 
or  foreigner,  no  malicious  or  revengeful  neighbor,  no 
haughty  or  disdainful  spirit,  no  cold  or  uncongenial 
soul,  no  disagreeable  or  repulsive  quality,  no  princi- 
ple or  emotion  incompatible  with  perfect  sympathy, 
all  the  mighty  host  of  redeemed  and  unfallen  crea- 
tures loving  as  none  but  the  sinless  and  immortal  can 
love,  all  hearts  beating  with  a  single  pulse,  all  voices 
attuned  to  an  eternal  harmony,  and  nothing  ever 
happening  to  interrupt  the  communion  or  mar  the 
joy.  Gradation  of  rank  and  variety  of  condition, 
indeed,  there  still  must  be ;  but  no  envy  of  superior 
positions,  nor  contempt  of  inferior  orders ;  every  one 


CHARITY  IN  RELATION  TO  FAITH  'AND  HOPE.      251 

exercising  unmingled  good-will  toward  every  other, 
and  rejoicing  in  the  happiness  of  the  vast  commu- 
nity ;  not  a  saint  nor  a  seraph  that  is  not  loved  as 
much  as  he  deserves  and  blessed  as  much  as  he  can 
desire.  And  there  will  be  no  dishonesty,  no  disin- 
genuousness,  no  flattery  or  dissimulation,  no  words 
of  affection  lightly  spoken,  no  hypocrisy  painting  its 
putrid  sepulchre  and  cloaking  its  naked  villany 

"  To  seem  a  saint  when  most  it  plays  the  devil ; " 

but  all  will  be  what  they  appear  and  feel  what  they 
profess,  and  none  will  ever  question  another's  truth, 
or  suspect  another's  motive,  or  fear  the  inconstancy 
of  a  friend,  or  dread  being  supplanted  by  a  rival. 

In  our  present  imperfect  condition,  charity  is  often 
eclipsed  by  indiscretion,  for  even  those  who  "love 
one  another  with  a  pure  heart  fervently "  have  not 
always  the  judgment  and  the  prudence  to  guide  the 
action  and  guard  the  expression  of  their  love ;  then 
there  shall  be  no  such  spot  upon  the  sun,  no  such 
obscuration  of  the  divine  within  us,  no  hasty  speech, 
nor  imprudent  act,  nor  foolish  sentimental  fondness, 
nor  unworthy  propensity  of  passion,  nor  headlong 
impetuosity  of  emotion,  outrunning  reason  and  spurn- 
ing the  dictates  of  wisdom ;  but  the  mental  eye, 
purged  as  with  euphrasy,  shall  see  clearly  what  is 
just,  and  right,  and  true,  and  pure,  and  good,  and 
becoming;  and  knowledge  shall  be  commensurate 
with  love,  and  prudence  shall  keep  pace  with  desire, 
and  danger  shall  never  betide  the  holy  affection,  and 
all  shall  be  orderly  and  harmonious  as  the  attributes 
of  God.     Now. we  are  divided  into  parties  and  fac- 


252  PAULINE  CHAEITY. 

tions,  each  with  its  own  peculiar  interests  and  con- 
flicting aims,  its  bigotries,  shibboleths,  controversies, 
sectional  barriers,  and  strong  partition  walls;  but 
these  shall  all  pass  away  with  our  imperfect  knowl- 
edge, and  there  shall  be  no  more  heresies  nor  schisms, 
no  differences  of  creed  or  of  ritual,  no  misapprehen- 
sion of  meaning  or  of  motive,  no  incompatibility  of 
temper  or  of  manner,  no  selfish  exclusiveness  nor 
unreasonable  prejudice ;  but  all  shall  be  of  one  mind 
and  one  heart,  one  flock  feeding  under  one  Shepherd, 
one  family  rejoicing  in  the  love  of  a  common  Father, 
one  vast  triumphant  host  chanting  the  mighty 
achievements  of  the  same  divine  Champion.  And 
none  of  the  blessed  citizens  shall  ever  grieve  for  the 
affliction  of  another,  for  "  tears  shall  be  wiped  from 
off  all  faces,"  "and  sorrow  and  sighing  shall  flee 
away ; "  and  as  charity  now  shares  the  sufferings  of 
the  brethren,  so  then  shall  it  share  their  joys,  and 
the  very  sympathy  which  at  present  is  a  source  of 
pain  shall  then  be  a  well-spring  of  pleasure ;  for  the 
good  of  one  shall  be  the  good  of  all,  and  the  thrill 
that  quickens  a  single  pulse  shall  throb  throughout 
the  happy  millions.  Knowledge  shall  be  perfect, 
and  charity  shall  be  perfect,  and  the  scope  of  the 
mental  faculties  shall  be  the  measure  of  the  moral 
affections.  The  mustard-seed  shall  have  become  the 
tree,  the  spark  shall  have  risen  into  a  flame,  the 
dawn  shall  have  brightened  to  meridian  day;  and 
that  tree  shall  never  wither,  and  that  flame  shall 
never  languish,  and  tlip.t  da}^  shall  never  darken  into 
night.  The  reign  of  charity  shall  never  cease,  and 
its   delights  shall  never  cloy,  and  its  ardors  shall 


CHAHITY  IN  RELATION  TO  FAITH  AND  HOPE.      253 

never  wane,  and  its  objects  shall  never  lose  aught 
of  their  interest,  from  age,  or  infirmity,  or  physical 
deformity,  or  moral  defection,  or  social  alienation,  or 
any  other  cause ;  but  the  bloom  of  youth  shall  be 
unchanging,  and  the  heart  shall  retain  its  virgin 
freshness  forever,  and  its  purity  shall  remain  unsul- 
lied by  sin  and  unperilled  by  temptation ;  and  love, 
reposing  in  full  confidence  and  security,  shall  enjoy 
an  Eden  everywhere,  whose  verdure  and  blossom 
and  fruitage  shall  be  eternal. 

A  French  writer  of  romance  has  given  his  readers 
a  beautiful  word-picture,  with  a  translation  of  which 
I  may  well  conclude  this  homily :  — "  Faith  said, 
Trust  in  God,  and  the  opposing  mountains  will  retire 
like  clouds,  and  the  waves  will  grow  firm  beneath 
your  feet,  and  the  rainbow  will  throw  itself  as  a 
bridge  over  the  valleys.  Hope  answered.  Go  for- 
ward without  fear !  the  desert  leads  to  the  promised 
land ;  see !  before  you  is  repose  after  fatigue,  tri-Q^ 
umph  after  conflict,  abundance  after  privation.  At 
last  a  voice  more  fascinating  fell  upon  my  ear  —  the 
voice  of  charity,  in  a  soft  melodious  murmur :  Little 
children,  love  one  another  !  there  is  not  in  the  world 
a  surer  talisman;  it  is  the  sesame  —  open  thou  — 
which  shall  deliver  to  you  the  treasures  of  the  uni- 
verse and  endow  you  with  the  riches  of  God ! "  ^ 

"And   now   abide th   faith,  hope,   charity  —  these 
three ;  but  the  greatest  of  these  is  charity." 

1  ilfimile  Souvestre. 


254  PAULINE  CHAEITY. 


XIX. 

CHARITY  SUGGESTIVE  OF  IMPORTANT  LESSONS. 

The  greatest  of  these  is  charity.  —  1  Cor.  xiii.  13. 

As  travellers  through  some  beautiful  country, 
with  agreeable  company,  and  many  a  goodly  pros- 
pect, and  the  frequent  recurrence  of  pleasant  rest- 
ing places,  sweet  fountains,  fragrant  gardens,  groves 
of  living  green,  fruits  of  delicious  flavor,  and  most 
enchanting  melodies,  we  have  traced  the  apostle's 
"more  excellent  way"  till  we  find  it  opening  upon 
fields  of  light  which  none  but  immortal  eyes  may 
scan  and  none  but  immortal  pinions  explore. 

Charity  is  love,  and  in  this  single  word  Christian- 
ity sums  up  all  social  morality,  comprehending  the 
whole  duty  of  man  to  man.  There  is  no  analogy  to 
this  in  any  other  religion,  or  any  system  of  human 
philosophy.  What  knows  paganism  of  Pauline  char- 
ity? Did  Greece  or  Rome,  Egypt  or  Assyria,  ever 
rear  an  altar,  a  temple  or  a  statue  to  such  a  goddess  ? 
They  worshipped  many  virtues,  and  deified  some  of 
the  worst  human  passions ;  but  charity  never  found 
a  niche  in  the  Pantheon,  and  no  poet  sang  her  praise, 
nor  orator  eulogized  her  deeds,  nor  historian  recorded 
her  conquests,  nor  philosopher  became  enamoured  of 


CHARITY  SUGGESTIVE  OF  EVIPORTANT  LESSONS.    255 

her  beauty,  nor  legislator  canonized  her  in  his  code. 
And  who  looks  for  any  acknowledgment  of  her  now, 
I  will  not  say  in  the  savage  wigwams  of  America  or 
the  sanguinary  superstitions  of  Africa,  but  even  in 
the  gorgeous  temples  of  India  or  among  the  myriad 
divinities  of  China  and  Japan?  And  the  revela- 
tions of  the  Koran,  which  were  deemed  worthy  of 
the  advent  of  the  archangel  and  the  rapture  of  the 
prophet  —  do  they  anywhere  name  charity  as  a  prin- 
ciple of  moral  life  and  the  foundation  of  virtuous 
character  ?  On  the  contrary,  the  spirit  of  Islam  is 
more  bigoted  and  intolerant  than  paganism,  enjoin- 
ing irreconcilable  hatred  to  all  who  reject  its  claims, 
and  promising  the  joys  of  paradise  in  reward  for 
deeds  of  which  the  heart  of  humanity  quakes  to 
hear.  And  what  is  the  vaunted  philanthropy  of 
socialistic  philosophy,  with  all  other  modern  substi- 
tutes for  the  gospel  of  our  salvation,  but  a  moral 
abortion,  a  painted  fire,  a  worthless  travesty,  a  scan- 
dalous impracticability,  a  blasphemous  caricature  of 
the  Christian  principle,  which  would  supplant  the 
beneficent  ordinance  of  heaven  to  establish  a  broth- 
erhood without  a  bond,  and  destroy  all  domestic 
virtue  by  reducing  the  race  to  a  family  of  fiends? 
Jllia_spiiitL_jde&cribedJbx^tj_EjaaiL^^  of  _ 

the  gospel,  and  one  of  the  strongest  attestations  to 
its  divinity.  Where  but  in  heaven  could  such  a  sys- 
tem originate,  and  who  but  Jehovah  could  give  it  the 
authority  of  a  law  ? 

How  strongly  does  the  standard  of  character  here 
erected  contrast  with  that  of  the  world!     Who  is 


256  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

the  man  that  the  age  delighteth  to  honor?  What 
are  the  qualities  that  call  for  popular  admiration  and 
homage?  Whose  fame  does  poetry  sing?  Whose 
virtues  does  eloquence  applaud?  Whose  form  and 
features  live  in  the  canvas  and  the  marble?  Is  it 
the  meek,  gentle,  patient,  humble,  modest,  unobtru- 
sive, unambitious,  unostentatious  disciple  of  Jesus  — 
peaceable,  merciful,  disinterested,  free  from  envy 
and  jealousy,  equally  tender  and  magnanimous,  slow 
to  take  offence  and  prompt  to  pardon  the  offender, 
generously  concealing  his  neighbor's  faults  and  in- 
genuously acknowledging  his  own  —  who  gives  with- 
out display  and  works  without  reward,  neither 
disgusted  by  ingratitude  nor  discouraged  by  opposi- 
tion, preaching  glad  tidings  in  garrets  and  cellars 
and  dungeons,  proclaiming  pardon  to  those  who  are 
ready  to  perish,  and  following  the  trail  of  the  Indian 
warrior  with  the  angels'  message  of  peace  ?  Nay,  is 
it  not  the  proud,  the  selfish,  the  ambitious  man,  high- 
spirited  and  independent,  always  ready  to  take 
offence  and  bold  to  resent  a  wrong,  who  calls  for- 
bearance cowardice  and  revenge  honor,  who  cannot 
brook  a  contradiction  nor  allow  any  one  to  tread 
upon  the  skirts  of  his  dignity,  who  scorns  to  ask  for- 
giveness for  himself  and  never  grants  it  to  another, 
who  passes  over  an  insult  only  from  contempt  of  its 
author  and  deems  retraction  or  apology  an  irrepar- 
able disgrace,  who  rides  to  glory  over  the  necks  of 
prostrate  nations  and  encloses  himself  with  a  rampart 
of  mangled  bodies  and  broken  hearts,  who  nourishes 
his  laurels  with  tears  and  blood  and  makes  the  wails 
of  widowhood  and  the  hunger-cries  of  orphanage  the 


CHARITY  SUGGESTIVE  OF  EVIPORTANT  LESSONS.    257 

music  of  his  triumphal  pageant  —  is  not  this  the  man 
upon  whom  the  world  lavishes  its  encomiums,  the 
god  before  whom  it  falls  down  in  adoration  ? 

"And  thus  it  is,"  writes  a  late  English  divine, 
"that  under  the  power  of  a  peculiar  fascination, 
demons  are  worshipped  in  sight  of  the  miseries  they 
have  inflicted  and  within  hearing  of  the  groans  they 
have  extorted,  merely  on  account  of  the  talents  they 
possess  and  their  power  to  curse  mankind.  Thus 
the  enemies  of  human  happiness  are  openly  ap- 
plauded, while  those  who  follow  the  meek  and  lowly 
Man  of  Nazareth  must  look  for  the  world's  scorn  and 
contempt  —  must  expect  to  be  treated  as  poor  tame- 
spirited  creatures,  who  deserve  all  the  contumely 
they  receive  because  of  their  forbearance  in  submit- 
ting to  it;  or  as  miserable  fanatics,  cherishing  a 
theory  of  morals  equally  unreasonable  and  impracti- 
cable, and  aiming  at  a  state  of  perfection  which  can 
never  be  realized  on  earth."  ^  So  different  is  the 
world's  standard  from  that  of  Jesus  Christ. 

.  Does  not  the  apostle's  account  of  Christian  charity 
shed  a  reproving  light  also  upon  national  antipathies 
and  the  prevalent  passion  for  war  ?  Why  should  in- 
tervening mountains,  rivers,  oceans,  make  enemies  of 
nations  ?  Why  should  the  geographical  and  political 
divisions  of  the  globe  sever  the  bonds  of  human 
brotherhood  and  limit  the  sphere  of  Christian  benev- 
olence? Because  a  man  breathes  another  climate, 
speaks  another  language,  owns  another  government, 
am  I  to  dislike  him,  discard  him,  treat  him  as  my 
1  John  Angell  James. 


258  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

foe  ?  Because  his  manners  and  customs  differ  some- 
what from  mine,  the  type  of  his  civilization,  the 
intelligence  to  which  he  has  attained,  the  educa- 
tional influences  to  which  he  has  been  subjected,  am 
I  to  forget  that  he  is  my  brother,  and  bear  mj^self 
toward  him  as  if  he  belonged  to  another  race  or 
another  planet  ?  Siuce  "  God  hath  made  of  one 
blood  all  nations  of  men  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of 
the  earth,"  am  I  to  hate  the  Scotch  or  the  Irish,  the 
French  or  the  German,  the  Spanish  or  the  Italian, 
the  Russian  or  the  Egyptian,  the  Mexican  or  the 
Laplander  ?  Must  I  be  a  misanthrope  because  I  am 
a  patriot,  despising  all  other  lands  because  I  appre- 
ciate my  own  ? 

And  may  not  nations  and  governments  'be  gen- 
erous competitors,  building  up  their  own  interests 
without  seeking  to  subvert  the  welfare  of  their 
neighbors?  What  but  national  pride,  envy,  jealousy, 
ambition,  covetousness,  is  it  that  foments  national 
quarrels,  resulting  in  national  conflicts  utterly  irrec- 
oncilable with  Pauline  charity?  Can  Christ's  fol- 
lowers be  murderers?  and  what  is  war  but  wholesale 
murder  ?  Can  the  peaceable  disciples  of  the  Prince 
of  peace  wade  to  wealth  and  power  through  the 
blood  of  their  brethren?  How  can  they  rejoice  in 
such  holocausts  of  humanity  to  Mars,  to  Mammon,  to 
Moloch,  and  trample  upon  quivering  hearts  in  which 
they  have  recognized  their  Saviour's  image  ?  Is  not 
the  whole  spirit  and  tendency  of  Christ's  religion 
pacific,  and  all  its  precepts  opposed  to  the  cruel 
impulsions  of  wrath  and  revenge?  Let  it  become 
universal,  and  how  easy  will  be  the  adjustment  of  all 


CHAEITY  SUGGESTIVE  OF  IMPORTANT  LESSONS.    259 

international  questions !  and  swords  will  be  beaten 
into  ploughshares  and  spears  into  pruning-hooks ; 
and  nation  will  no  more  lift  up  weapon  against  na- 
tion, neither  will  they  learn  war  any  more.^ 

"Is  it  not  deplorable,"  asks  the  writer  before 
quoted,  "  that  those  who  call  themselves  Christians 
and  glory  in  their  Christianit}^.  should  still  encourage 
the  spirit  of  war  —  that  the  Church  of  Christ  should 
sanction  it,  and  the  pulpit  seldom  bear  distinct  tes- 
timony against  it  —  that  we  should  cherish  national 
resentments,  practise  national  retaliation,  and  wor- 
ship Mars  more  than  Immanuel  —  that  we  should 
covet  the  territory  of  our  neighbors,  justify  aggres- 
sions upon  their  governments,  foment  jealousies  and 
contentions  in  order  that  we  may  profit  by  them, 
and  on  the  slightest  pretexts  kindle  feuds  that  may 
set  the  world  on  fire  —  that  Christian  senates  and 
parliaments,  sagacious  statesmen,  famous  patriots, 
honored  philanthropists,  revered  teachers  of  religion, 
and  ministers  at  the  altars  of  God,  should  allow  in 
themselves  and  foster  in  others  dispositions  more 
worthy  of  vipers  and  tigers  than  of  men,  more  suit- 
able to  fiends  and  furies  than  to  saints,  finding  their 
paradise  in  the  hell  of  the  battle-field,  their  glory  in 
the  humiliation  of  the  vanquished,  their  music  in  the 
groans  of  the  dying  and  the  wails  of  the  bereft,  and 
wearing  their  gory  laurels  as  if  they  were  crowns  of 
righteousness  ?  Alas,  that  after  the  angel-chorus  of 
Bethlehem  has  for  nearly  two  millenniums  been  ring- 
ing round  the  globe,  there  is  yet  so  little  charity 
among  the  children  of  men  —  so  little  even  among 
1  Massillon. 


260  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

the  children  of  God !  Arise,  O  Day-star !  and  scat- 
ter the  spirits  of  darkness  that  during  so  long  a 
night  have  troubled  the  peace  of  the  world ! "  ^ 

And  how  severely  does  charity  like  this  condemn 
the  bigotry  of  sectarian  prejudice  and  the  frequent 
bitterness  of  religious  controversy !  Why  should 
some  difPerence  of  opinion  in  matters  not  fundamen- 
tal to  the  faith,  or  some  variance  of  ritual  not  seri- 
ously compromising  the  purity  and  spirituality  of 
worship,  alienate  from  one  another  hearts  that  were 
else  one  in  Christ  ?  If  we  differ  in  many  things,  do 
we  not  agree  in  more  ?  and  are  not  those  in  which  we 
agree  much  more  important  than  those  in  which 
we  differ?  The  apostle  tells  us  there  is  one  body,  one 
spirit,  one  hope,  one  faith,  one  baptism,  one  Lord, 
and  one  Father  of  all.  In  these  seven  Christian  uni- 
ties have  we  not  a  sevenfold  cord  of  Christian  love 
strong  enough  to  bind  all  Christian  hearts  in  a  com- 
mon brotherhood  ?  Yet  how  much  do  we  see  around 
us  of  party  competition  and  unhallowed  rivalry ! 
how  much  of  sectarian  jealousy,  suspicion,  conten- 
tion, defamation,  misrepresentation  of  facts,  imputa- 
tion of  unworthy  motives,  despicable  trickery  of 
proselytism,  Absalom-like  intrigues  to  steal  away  the 
hearts  of  the  people  and  break  up  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  established  on  earth !  What  sight  could  be 
more  pleasing  to  Satan,  or  more  unlovely  to  angelic 
eyes,  than  the  jostling  of  sects  and  the  wrangling  of 
parties  which  are  so  hostile  to  the  tranquillity  and 
prosperity  of  the  Church  ? 

1  John  Angell  James. 


CHARITY  SUGGESTIVE  OF  IMPORTANT  LESSONS.    261 

Not  that  religious  controversy  itself  is  to  be  depre- 
cated, so  much  as  the  unbrotherly  bitterness  with 
which  it  is  frequently  pursued.  Controversy  fur- 
nishes the  safety-valve  of  our  zeal,  and  often  it  eli-' 
cits  investigation  resulting  in  better  knowledge  of 
the  truth.  First  pure,  then  peaceable,  is  the  wisdom 
from  above ;  but  peaceable  without  purity  it  cannot 
be,  till  it  prove  recreant  to  truth  and  God.  The 
assailed  faith  must  be  defended,  and  aggressive  error 
and  unbelief  must  be  resisted,  however  the  shock 
may  shake  the  mountains  and  fill  the  .air  with  bat- 
tle-smoke. For  the  sake  of  pleasant  relations  with 
heresy  and  friendship  with  rationalistic  scepticism, 
to  discard  the  manger  and  cut  down  the  cross,  were 
to  conspire  against  heaven  and  strike  a  league  with 
hell.  From  a  desire  for  peace  to  give  up  the  glori- 
ous doctrines  of  the  gospel  is  to  cast  away  our  title 
to  the  blood-redeemed  inheritance  and  pass  the  keys 
of  the  kingdom  over  into  the  hands  of  the  Devil. 
With  the  martial-spirited  Edward  Irving,  "we  do 
protest,  and  will  protest  to  the  end,  against  that 
trimming,  self-indulgent,  ultra-liberal  dread  of  reli- 
gious debate,  which  would  bind  over  truth  to  keep 
the  peace  with  error,  and  consign  those  celestial 
weapons  of  the  spiritual  armory  —  scripture  and  rea- 
son —  to  the  ark  of  the  Church  as  useless  regalia."  ^ 

Fight  we  must,  but  let  it  be  "the  good  fight  of 
faith ; "  and  in  contending  earnestly  for  the  faith, 
let  us  be  careful  not  to  wound  charity.  Alas  that 
religious  questions  should  so  often  excite  anti-reli- 
gious passions,  rendering  our  disputations  personal 
1  Last  Days. 


262  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

and  vituperative,  and  charging  argument  with  an 
acrimony  quite  incompatible  with  gentleness  and 
love !  How  often  do  your  fierce  polemics,  to  vindi- 
cate the  verities  of  God's  evangel,  dip  their  pens  in 
gall,  and  write  what  Christians  should  be  ashamed 
to  read  and  angels  might  rejoice  to  obliterate  with 
their  tears  !  How  often  is  the  pulpit  itself  envel- 
oped with  the  fumes  of  the  bottomless  pit,  and  the 
consecrated  tongue  of  Heaven's  accredited  ambassa- 
dor blistered  with  utterances  unfit  to  be  heard  out- 
side the  gates  of  Pandemonium !  How  often  does 
sectarian  pugnacity  rally  its  eager  partisans  around 
some  theological  Hercules,  rejoicing  in  the  redoubt- 
able strength  of  his  arm  and  the  sweep  of  his  far- 
resounding  mace !  How  often  have  we  seen  the 
multitude  form  a  ring  around  two  spiritual  pugilists 
engaged  in  a  polemical  prize-fight  over  the  font  or 
the  altar,  over  the  cross  of  Christ  or  the  mouth  of 
hell !  What  cruel  reproach  is  brought  upon  the 
gospel  by  the  acerbity  of  such  unseemly  contention 
among  those  to  whom  the  Master  saith,  "  All  je  are 
brethren"!  and  how  is  Christianity  discredited  in 
the  eyes  of  ignorant  unbelief  by  the  wrath  and 
harpy-fury  of  religious  strife  where  there  is  a  pro- 
fessed following  of  the  "  meek  and  lowly  in  heart "  ! 
Well  might  Martin  Luther's  prayer  be  made  a  suf- 
frage in  our  Litany :  "  From  all  frivolous  and  fruit- 
less controversies,  good  Lord  deliver  us  "  ! 

And  in  the  light  of  our  exposition,  how  are  we  to 
estimate  the  giiilt  of  those  who  cause  ruinous  divis- 
ions in  the  household  of  faith  ?    If  it  is  so  good  and 


CHARITY  SUGGESTIVE  OF  IMPOETANT  LESSONS.    263 

pleasant  a  thing  for  brethren  to  dwell  together  in 
unity,  who  shall  measure  the  mischief  done  by  break- 
ing up  the  family  and  severing  the  happy  fraternity 
that  with  one  mind  and  one  mouth  glorified  God? 
If  charity  is  the  bond  of  perfectness,  the  test  of 
Christian  character,  the  best  recommendation  of  the 
gospel,  and  the  condemnation  of  a  discordant  world, 
what  words  shall  suffice  to  express  the  repugnance  of 
every  true  disciple  to  that  wicked  schismatical  spirit 
which  often  wounds  it  so  recklessly  or  murders  it 
outright  ? 

Some  outward  diversity  there  may  be  without  any 
inward  bitterness,  some  variance  of  formula  and 
regimen  without  any  serious  involvement  of  the 
affections ;  but  when  factious  discontent  arises,  com- 
plaining of  burdens  it  can  no  longer  bear  —  when 
turbulent  ambition  bestirs  itself,  filling  the  camp 
with  mutinous  murmurings  against  Moses  and  Aaron 
—  when  unholy  hands  are  laid  upon  the  ark  of  the 
Lord,  or  a  tumultuous  mob  of  heretics  undertake  to 
pull  down  the  temple  in  order  to  build  a  mosque  to 
their  own  prophet  —  then  surely  it  is  time  to  raise 
the  battle-cry,  "Who  is  on  the  Lord's  side?"  then 
it  is  high  time  for  God  to  awake,  and  plead  his  own 
cause,  and  vindicate  the  honor  of  his  spouse,  and 
shield  his  darling  charity.  Schism  in  the  Church  is 
as  if  a  continent  fell  asunder,  swallowing  up  cities, 
forests,  mountains,  provinces,  and  leaving  nothing 
in  their  place  but  a  turbid  and  wildly-tossing  sea. 
Nay,  it  is  as  if  a  planet  exploded  in  heaven,  scatter- 
ing its  fragments  through  space  and  perilling  the 
orbits  of  other  worlds. 


264  PAULINE  CHAEITY. 

Who  presumes  to  say  there  is  no  guilt  in  the 
agency  of  so  vast  a  mischief?  What!  no  guilt  in 
that  which  mars  the  work  of  grace  and  stigmatizes 
the  gospel  as  a  forgery?  No  guilt  in  that  which 
stains  the  radiant  beauty  of  holiness  and  foully 
asperses  the  white  robes  of  saints  ?  No  guilt  in  that 
which  perpetuates  the  disorders  of  this  unhappy 
world  and  robs  humanity  of  its  purchased  and  prom- 
ised blessedness?  No  guilt  in  that  which  debars 
the  redeemed  from  their  mansions  in  the  Father's 
house  and  peoples  with  the  rightful  heirs  of  heaven 
the  dismal  solitudes  of  hell?  In  comparison  with 
this  dreadful  work,  what  is  that  of  the  world's 
butchers  and  despots,  who  in  the  recklessness  of 
their  ambition  and  the  ruthlessness  of  their  revenge, 
devastate  fruitful  countries,  deluge  fair  cities  with 
blood,  make  slaughter-houses  of  regal  palaces,  whelm 
nations  in  the  wreck  of  falling  thrones,  and  convert 
thousands  of  pleasant  homes  into  scenes  of  widowed 
sorrow  and  orphaned  wretchedness?  Suppose  one 
had  the  power  to  turn  lambs  into  leopards,  doves 
into  vultures,  and  all  the  tribes  of  quiet  and  harm- 
less creatures  into  ferocious  beasts  and  ravenous 
birds  and  destructive  reptiles,  and  went  about  exer- 
cising such  power,  would  not  mankind  unite  to  hunt 
him  from  the  world?  Here  is  a  spirit  which,  by 
tearing  hearts  asunder  that  are  knit  together  in  love 
and  shattering  to  pieces  the  most  beneficent  associa- 
tion on  earth,  would  murder  immortality,  reverse 
the  decree  of  redemption,  and  subvert  the  empire  of 
the  Prince  of  peace. 

Yet  they  tell  us  it  is  well  there  are  so  many  in- 


CHARITY  SUGGESTIVE  OF  LMPOKTANT  LESSONS.    265 

dependent  religious  organizations,  to  provoke  one 
another  to  zeal  and  good  works,  and  suit  the  various 
tastes  and  conditions  of  mankind.  Shameful  apology 
for  shameless  sin !  Did  not  the  Son  of  God,  just 
before  he  went  for  us  to  the  cross,  pray  that  we  all 
might  be  one  in  him,  as  he  was  one  with  the  Father  ? 
And  do  not  his  holy  apostles  in  their  writings  con- 
stantly speak  of  the  Church  as  one  building,  one 
body,  one  folded  flock,  ever  deprecating  division  as 
the  worst  of  evils  and  denouncing  schism  as  the 
deadliest  of  sins  ?  And  were  not  the  first  Christians 
all  of  one  heart  and  one  soul,  bound  in  one  sheaf  as 
wheat  for  the  gamer,  all  fruitful  branches  of  one 
living  Vine?  And  what  knows  Pauline  charity  of 
party  spirit  or  independent  interests  in  the  Church  ? 
"  Instead  of  maintaining  the  barriers  wdiich  separate 
us  from  each  other  and  employing  ourselves  in  for- 
tifying the  frontiers  of  hostile  communities,"  says 
Robert  Hall,  "we  should  be  anxiously  devising 
means  for  narrowing  the  grounds  of  dispute  by 
drawing  the  attention  of  all  parties  to  those  funda- 
mental and  catholic  principles  in  which  they  con- 
cur." Still  better  were  it,  O  eloquent  Dissenter !  if 
the  branches  had  never  been  severed  from  the  parent 
tree,  or  if  the  wandering  sheep  should  even  now 
return  to  the  original  fold.  There  is  room  enough 
in  the  Church  for  variety  without  heresy,  and  for 
ecclesiastical  controversy  without  violation  of  organic 
unity.  Shall  the  watchmen  on  the  walls  of  a 
besieged  city  take  advantage  of  their  position  to 
embroil  their  brethren  within,  or  widen  the  breaches 
and  tear  down  the  ramparts  to  admit  the  enemy 


266  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

without?  Fearful  must  be  the  future  account  of 
those  factious  and  malignant  leaders  who,  preferring 
promotion  to  purity  and  partisan  interests  to  the 
general  welfare,  scruple  not  to  rend  the  Saviour's 
seamless  robe  and  wound  him  in  the  house  of  his 
friends !  How  different  the  spirit  of  the  grand  old 
reformers,  who  shook  off  the  chains  of  superstition 
as  the  strong  man  shakes  off  the  bands  of  sleep  in 
the  morning,  and  maintained  a  glorious  champion- 
ship for  the  Church  in  sight  of  the  dungeon  and  the 
stake !  With  the  weapons  of  love  they  contended 
for  the  faith;  and  wept  with  full  heart  for  their 
brethren  deceived  and  enslaved  by  the  iniquity 
against  which  they  stood  forth  as  knights  in  armor. 
Made  valiant  by  charity,  each  smote  his  Goliath  to 
the  dust,  and  meekly  brought  his  spoils  and  laid 
them  at  the  feet  of  Immanuel's  Bride.  "It  must 
needs  be  that  offences  come,  but  woe  to  that  man 
by  whom  the  offence  cometh!  Better  were  it  for 
him  that  a  mill-stone  were  hanged  about  his  neck 
and  he  were  cast  into  the  depths  of  the  sea  "  ! 

Let  us  have  done,  then,  with  our  divisions.  One 
in  Christ,  let  us  gird  up  our  loins  for  a  grand  united 
effort  to  fill  the  Church  with  love  and  the  world  with 
peace.  To  re-unite  the  long-distracted  family,  came 
the  Love  Divine,  incarnate  in  humanity.  As  the 
great  pacificator  of  a  discordant  universe,  a  hundred 
prophets  heralded  his  advent  on  earth.  Born  in 
Bethlehem,  a  seraphic  song  of  peace  announced  his 
nativity  to  the  shepherds ;  and  when  he  entered 
upon  his  public  ministry,  he  pronounced  a  special 
blessing   upon   the   peacemakers,  and  named  them 


CHARITY  SUGGESTIVE  OF  IMPORTANT  LESSONS.    267 

sons  of  God ;  and  when  he  left  his  little  flock  like 
Iambs  among  wolves,  it  was  with  a  legacy  of  peace ; 
and  when  he  returned  to  them  from  the  tomb,  it  was 
with  a  salutation  of  peace ;  and  his  apostles  labored 
to  preserve  their  brethren  in  the  bond  of  peace ;  and 
the  spirit  of  his  religion  in  every  disciple  is  the 
crown  of  peace ;  and  its  consummation  in  the  king- 
dom of  light  "  shall  be  quietness  and  assurance  for- 


268  PAULINE  CHABITY. 


XX. 

CHARITY  ENFORCED  UPON  CHRISTIAN  PRACTICE. 

i^ollow  after  charity.  —  1  Cob.  xiv.  1. 

St.  John  was  pre-eminently  the  apostle  of  love. 
On  the  bosom  of  the  Divine  Love  incarnate,  he 
learned  to  love  with  an  ardor  and  a  tenderness 
among  men  seldom  equalled  and  never  surpassed. 
Very  justly  is  he  called  "the  disciple  whom  Jesus 
loved ; "  for  the  Master  found  in  him  something  so 
congenial  and  attractive,  that  on  several  recorded 
occasions  he  treated  him  with  exceptional  favor  and 
familiarity.  Love  is  the  keynote  of  his  epistles,  on 
which  he  dwells  so  sweetly,  and  to  which  he  returns 
so  often,  that  we  have  come  to  consider  this  Chris- 
tian quality  as  more  fully  exemplified  in  his  charac- 
ter, and  more  constantly  inculcated  in  his  writings, 
than  in  those  of  any  other  apostle.  Yet  it  is  a  re- 
markable fact,  that  the  most  comprehensive  account 
of  love  —  of  its  nature,  its  properties,  and  its  relative 
importance  —  as  well  as  the  most  touching  and  beau- 
tiful—  to  be  found  in  the  whole  volume  of  Holy 
Scripture,  is  from  the  pen  of  St.  Paul  in  the  chapter 
of  which  we  have  discoursed. 

•  In  natural  temper,  early  education,  and  apostolio 
investiture,  the  two  writers  differed  widely ;  yet  both 


CHARITY  ENFORCED.  269 

describe  the  same  Christian  affection  with  its  various 
manifestations  and  fruits,  but  each  in  his  own  char- 
acteristic manner.  St.  John,  being  of  a  contempla- 
tive turn  of  mind,  seems  most  at  home  in  the  calm 
inner  depths  of  love ;  while  St.  Paul,  always  intensely 
practical,  delights  to  trace  its  development  and  ap- 
plication in  the  active  life  of  men.  With  the  former, 
it  is  the  tranquil  repose  of  full  satisfaction  and  per- 
fect confidence ;  with  the  latter,  it  is  an  out-bursting 
energy  and  soul-consuming  zeal.  The  one  theorizes 
divinely,  and  his  eloquent  logic  leads  cajjtive  the 
mind  and  the  heart  of  the  reader ;  the  other  trans- 
lates his  theory  into  practice,  and  makes  love  the 
characteristic  principle  of  Christian  life,  the  very 
pulse  of  regenerate  and  sanctified  souls. 

Here  the  matter  is  set  before  us  by  St.  Paul  in  a 
light  the  most  vivid  and  attractive  ;  charity  —  which 
is  only  another  name  for  love  —  being  exhibited  as 
the  crowning  excellence  of  Christianity,  the  sum  of 
all  social  morality,  the  image  of  God  in  the  soul  of 
man  —  greater  than  the  gift  of  tongues,  wiser  than 
the  knowledge  of  mysteries,  holier  than  the  power  of 
prophecy,  sublimer  than  the  mightiest  miracles,  more 
bounteous  than  the  largest  beneficence,  more  heroic 
than  any  voluntary  martyrdom,  more  enduring  than 
all  supernatural  endowments,  and  in  its  sphere  and 
functions  transcending  both  faith  and  hope. 

Just  before  his  passion,  Jesus  said  to  the  twelve : 
"  A  new  commg-ndment  give  I  unto  you,  That  ye  love 
one  another  —  as  I  have  loved  you,  that  ye  also  love 
one  another."     His  favorite  apostle,  who  could  never 


270  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

forget  that  saying,  many  years  afterward,  with  fre- 
quent repetitions  and  variations  echoed  the  precious 
word  in  the  ears  of  the  whole  Catholic  Church.  He 
calls  the  command  both  a  new  command  and  an  old 
command,  and  the  simplest  disciple  need  not  stumble 
at  the  paradox.  The  new  command  is  old  because  it 
calls  for  mutual  love,  which  God  has  required  from 
the  beginning;  the  old  command  is  new  because 
Christ's  love  to  us  all  is  to  be  the  motive,  the  model 
and  the  measure  of  our  love  one  to  another.  Love 
is  the  very  essence  of  Christianity.  Brotherly  love  is 
the  half  of  Christianity,  and  the  best  evidence  to  the 
world  that  we  have  been  with  Jesus  and  learned  of 
him.  "  By  this  shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  my 
disciples,  if  ye  have  love  one  to  another."  The  word 
is  as  true  to-day  as  when  it  fell  from  the  lips  of  our 
Lord. 

But  very  apt  we  are  to  deceive  ourselves,  claiming 
to  be  his  disciples  while  we  lack  the  one  thing  that 
more  than  all  others  can  entitle  us  to  the  name.  Let 
the  subject  we  have  considered  correct  our  errors. 
If  we  have  not  the  spirit  of  Christ,  we  are  none  of 
his.  Wanting  the  charity  described  in  this  chapter, 
whatever  else  we  may  possess,  we  are  not  practical 
Christians.  To  a  complete  Christian  character  all 
these  attributes  are  essential.  Li  different  Christians 
they  may  exist  in  different  degrees,  and  in  the  same 
Christian  some  of  them  may  be  more  largely  devel- 
oped than  others ;  but  in  every  renewed  and  purified 
heart  the  germinal  principle  must  dwell,  the  generic 
virtue  in  which  they  all  inhere. 

Deem  not  yourselves  Christians,  then,  in  the  true 


CHARITY  ENFORCED.  271 

practical  sense,  because  you  have  received  the  initia- 
tory sacrament  of  the  Church,  and  been  brought  into 
the  bond  of  the  covenant,  and  incorporated  with  the 
mystical  body  of  Christ,  which  is  the  blessed  com- 
pany of  all  faithful  people ;  for  what  avails  the  bap- 
tismal blessing  which  is  not  accompanied  by  Christian 
love  ?  and  how  will  the  washing  of  regeneration  save 
you,  if  you  lead  not  the  rest  of  your  life  according  to 
this  beginning  ?  Woe  to  them  that  bear  the  name 
of  Christ  without  his  image,  receive  the  sign  of  the 
cross  without  the  spirit  of  the  Crucified,  and  call  Jesus 
Lord  and  Master  while  they  are  totally  destitute  of 
the  charity  which  his  service  requires ! 

You  may  frequent  the  house  of  God,  and  delight 
in  its  eucharistic  solemnities ;  you  may  erect  the  fam- 
ily altar,  and  gather  your  children  around  the  morn- 
ing and  evening  sacrifice ;  you  may  observe  with  the 
utmost  exactness  your  seasons  of  private  devotion, 
and  commune  frequently  with  revealed  truth  in  the 
written  Word ;  but  by  no  such  formalities  can  you 
deceive  Him  who  looketh  upon  the  heart,  and  will 
never  mistake  the  flower  for  the  fruit,  the  shadow  for 
the  substance,  the  casket  for  the  jewel,  the  external 
act  for  the  internal  principle. 

And  what  is  all  your  knowledge,  if  you  have  not 
charity,  but  the  cold  moonbeams  gilding  the  moun- 
tain snows  which  they  cannot  melt?  "Knowledge 
puffeth  up,  but  charity  buildeth  up ; "  and  the  differ- 
ence between  them  is  that  of  the  gay  balloon  inflated 
with  gas,  and  the  marble  palace  filled  with  the  pre- 
cious treasures  of  art  and  empire.  The  most  intelli- 
gent citizen  may  basely  betray  his  country,  and  the 


272  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

best-informed  Churchman  may  prove  the  Judas  of 
the  band.  "Boast  as  you  will  of  3^our  illumination,  the 
lamp  you  rejoice  in  may  but  light  your  way  to  hell. 

And  religious  emotion  —  what  is  that  but  the  mark 
of  a  lively  temperament?  A  person  of  sensibility 
will  sigh  and  weep,  or  laugh  and  applaud,  at  a  musi- 
cal or  dramatical  performance,  in  which  there  is  no 
religious  element,  the  sentiment  of  which  is  even  cor- 
rupt and  demoralizing,  as  multitudes  do  under  sensa- 
tional sermons  and  in  exciting  revival  scenes.  Is  it 
not  the  very  shallowness  of  the  soil  that  makes  the 
seed  spring  up  so  quickly  and  wither  so  soon  away  ? 

"It  is  good  to  be  zealously  affected  always  in  a 
good  thing ; "  but  zeal  is  not  in  every  case  accom- 
panied by  charity,  and  vain  were  the  effort  to  create 
a  surplus  stock  of  one  virtue  to  make  up  for  the 
deficiency  of  another.  What  though  you  give  more 
than  your  neighbor  to  the  great  work  of  the  Church, 
or  go  forth  yourself  as  one  of  the  videttes  of  the  sac- 
ramental host,  and  wear  out  the  energies  of  life  in 
contending  for  the  faith,  or  fall  beneath  your  banner 
in  the  foremost  rank  of  battle  ?  Is  the  fiery  ardor 
that  impelled  you  to  such  martyrdom  more  pleasing 
in  the  sight  of  Heaven  than  the  meek  and  gentle 
charity  that  more  than  all  other  virtues  glorified  the 
militant  Captain  of  your  salvation  ?  ^ 

Believe  me,  dear  brethren !  against  this  dangerous 
delusion  you  cannot  be  too  carefully  guarded.  A 
fearful  thing  it  is,  too  fearful  for  expression  in 
words,  to  deceive  one's  self  in  "  the  vast  concerns  of 
an   eternal   scene."     An   error  in  temporal   affairs 

1  Bourdaloue. 


CHARITY  ENFOECED.  273 

subsequent  care  and  diligence  may  retrieve,  for  the 
wounds  of  the  soul  religion  provides  a  healing  balm, 
and  the  immedicable  ills  of  the  present  life  have  the 
consolatory  promise  of  abundant  compensation  in  the 
life  to  come ;  but  to  build  for  eternity  upon  the  shift- 
ing sands  —  to  find  the  frail  pleasure-bark  at  last 
circling  in  the  gyrations  of  the  whirlpool  —  to  see  the 
light  in  which  we  have  so  long  trusted  going  out  in 
the  gathering  gloom  of  a  night  that  knows  no  morn- 
ing—  this  is  too  frightful  for  a  Cliristian's  contem- 
plation. Ah !  how  many  on  this  very  rock  have 
wrecked  immortal  hopes !  Failing  to  discriminate 
between  the  true  evidence  of  Christian  character  and 
the  false  criteria  which  have  misled  multitudes  in  the 
estimate  of  their  spiritual  state,  they  have  involved 
themselves  in  practical  errors  inevitably  resulting  in 
a  moral  ruin  too  vast  for  human  thought  to  compass 
or  conceive.  "This  is  a  lamentation,  and  shall  be 
for  a  lamentation." 

With  what  a  pressure,  then,  does  this  subject  bear 
upon  the  duty  of  self-examination!  How  important 
is  it  that  every  one  should  know  himself!  But  who 
can  understand  the  evil  of  his  own  deceitful  heart? 
Does  not  self-love  blind  us  to  our  faults  and  imper- 
fections, and  so  perpetuate  our  bondage  to  sin  and 
Satan?  Let  us  carefully  examine  ourselves,  and  com- 
pare our  spirits  with  the  noble  standard  here  erected 
by  the  apostle.     Let  every  one  ask  himself:  — 

"Have  I  the  charity  described  in  this  chapter? 
Do  I  indeed  love  my  neighbor  as  myself,  desiring 
his  happiness  as  I  desire  my  own?    Are  all   these 


274  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

beautiful  attributes  of  charity  exemplified  in  my 
character  ? 

"Charity  suffereth  long:  do  I  display  this  quality 
—  forbearing  retaliation,  and  hating  the  spirit  of 
revenge  —  easily  conciliated,  and  always  ready  to 
forgive  —  loving  my  enemies,  rendering  good  for 
evil,  and  weeping  with  Jesus  over  the  doomed  and 
the  undone  ? 

"  Charity  is  kind :  am  I  gentle,  courteous,  and 
tender-hearted  —  attentive  to  the  comfort  and  con- 
venience of  others  —  careful  not  to  wound  their  feel- 
ings, or  unnecessarily  offend  their  tastes  —  bearing 
my  brother's  burdens,  sympathizing  with  those  who 
suffer,  and  aiding  as  I  am  able  all  that  need  my 
benevolent  offices  ? 

"  Charity  envieth  not :  do  I  rejoice  in  my  neigh- 
bor's prosperity,  bidding  God-speed  to  his  enterprise, 
and  making  his  interest  my  own  —  neither  grieved 
and  galled  at  his  good  fortune  as  if  it  were  an  injury 
to  myself,  nor  hating  him  for  his  superiority  and 
desiring  to  pull  him  down  from  his  elevation  ? 

"  Charity  vaunteth  not  itself :  do  I  never  boast  of 
my  gifts,  graces,  good  works,  nor  think  more  highly 
of  myself  than  I  ought  to  think  —  always  condescend- 
ing to  men  of  low  estate,  honoring  the  image  of 
Christ  in  his  humblest  followers,  and  deeming  my- 
self less  than  the  least  of  all  saints  ? 

"  Charity  is  not  puffed  up  :  do  I  make  no  ostenta- 
tious display  of  my  estimable  qualities  or  excellent 
performances  —  never  praying,  fasting,  giving  alms, 
to  be  seen  and  praised  of  men  —  like  Jesus  going 
about  doing  good,  without  causing  my  voice  to  be 


CHARITY  ENFOECED.  275 

heard  in  the  street,  or  letting  the  left  hand  know 
what  the  right  hand  doeth  ? 

"  Charity  doth  not  behave  itself  unseemly :  does 
my  manner  comport  with  my  profession  and  the 
spirit  of  the  gospel,  commending  Christianity  by  the 
exemplification  of  its  refining  and  ennobling  in- 
fluences—  never  uncivil,  unsocial,  offensive,  indeco- 
rous, supercilious,  overbearing,  incompatible  with  the 
humility  and  modesty  of  a  true  disciple  ? 

"  Charity  seeketh  not  her  own :  am  I  generous, 
disinterested,  devoted  to  the  welfare  of  others  — 
ready  always  for  every  good  work  —  contributing  as 
God  hath  given  me  ability  to  the  relief  of  suffering 
and  the  salvation  of  souls  —  imitating  Him  who  came 
from  heaven  to  bless  mankind  and  left  on  earth  this 
motto  for  deeds  of  mercy — 'It  is  more  blessed  to 
give  than  to  receive  '  ? 

"Charity  is  not  easily  provoked:  am  I  slow  to 
wrath  —  carefully  suppressing  all  ebullitions  of  ill- 
temper  —  angry  only  from  sufficient  cause,  and  suffer- 
ing not  the  sun  to  go  down  upon  my  wrath  —  when 
smitten  on  one  cheek,  promptly  turning  the  other  to 
the  smiter  and  remaining  unruffled  while  he  smites 
again  —  quenching  the  kindling  fire  with  tears  of 
love,  and  gladly  leaving  the  sword  in  the  hand  of 
Him  to  whom  vengeance  belongeth  ? 

"  Charity  thinketh  no  evil :  am  I  free  from  cen- 
soriousness  —  never  judging  hastily  or  officiously,  nor 
imputing  evil  motives,  nor  condemning  without  evi- 
dence—  forming  no  unfavorable  opinion  upon  exr 
'parte  testimony,  nor  lending  an  ear  to  the  whispers 
of  the  tale-bearer,  nor  taking  up  a  reproach  against 


276  PAULINE  CHAKITY. 

my  neighbor  —  inclined  always  to  excuse  errors, 
interpret  every  thing  kindly,  and  put  a  generous 
construction  upon  that  which  is  dark  and  doubtful? 

"  Charity  rejoiceth  not  in  iniquity,  but  rejoiceth  in 
the  truth :  am  I  in  full  sympathy  with  justice  and 
purity,  contemplating  them  with  pleasure,  and  prac- 
tising what  I  approve  —  gratified  at  every  opportu- 
nity of  vindicating  assailed  virtue  and  protecting 
insulted  piety  —  deriving  a  benevolent  satisfaction 
from  the  well-doing  and  well-deserving  even  of  an 
enemy  —  detesting  with  the  detestation  of  holiness 
that  Satanic  spirit  which  feeds  and  fattens  on  an- 
other's evil,  and  exults  to  see  its  rival  brought  down 
from  his  high  estate,  though  his  fall  involves  the 
ruin  of  moral  character  and  perils  the  salvation  of 
the  soul  ? 

"  Charity  beareth  all  things,  believeth  all  things, 
hopeth  all  things,  endureth  all  things :  have  I  enough 
of  it  to  cover  the  multitude  of  sins,  making  me  hold 
my  peace  till  I  am  compelled  to  speak,  and  conceal 
the  wrong  till  charity  itself  calls  for  the  reluctant 
disclosure  —  enough  to  give  joyful  credence  to  all 
that  is  uttered  in  excuse  or  mitigation  of  the  fault 
imputed,  putting  the  best  construction  I  can  upon 
what  seems  doubtful  or  uncertain,  till  overwhelming 
evidence  enforces  conviction  and  renders  faith  impos- 
sible—  enough  to  persevere  in  my  kind  endeavors 
amidst  indifference,  ingratitude,  hostility,  and  all 
other  obstacles  and  discouragements,  still  looking 
for  some  favorable  development,  still  struggling  to 
rescue  and  restore  the  fallen  —  enough,  when  the 
case  becomes  desperate  and  the  lamp  of  hope  goes 


CHAKITY  ENFORCED.  277 

out  in  eternal  gloom,  to  cast  both  myself  and  the 
unfortunate  brother  upon  the  bosom  of  the  Divine 
Mercy,  and  calmly  endure  what  I  could  not  avert 
and  cannot  remedy  ? 

"  These  are  the  attributes  of  charity  ■:  do  I  possess 
them  all,  showing  that  I  possess  the  parent  principle 
to  which  they  belong  ?  Ah !  what  occasion  have  I 
for  shame,  and  confusion  of  face,  and  penitential 
humiliation,  before  Him  who  searcheth  the  heart! 
Have  mercy  upon  me,  O  God,  after  thy  great  good- 
ness !  according  to  the  multitude  of  thy  tender  mer- 
cies, do  away  mine  iniquities  !  " 

Such,  my  brethren,  is  the  ordeal  to  which  we 
should  bring  our  spirits ;  and  since  we  are  so  igno- 
rant and  foolish  and  so  liable  to  self-deception,  we 
should  pray  earnestly  with  the  Psalmist :  —  "  Search 
me,  O  God !  and  know  my  heart ;  try  me,  and  know 
my  thoughts ;  and  see  if  there  be  any  wicked  way 
in  me,  and  lead  me  in  the  way  everlasting."  ^ 

And  what  incentives  are  here  furnished  for  the 
practice  and  cultivation  of  this  imperial  virtue  I 

By  cherishing  the  charity  of  St.  Paul,  how  much 
may  we  promote  our  own  peace  and  comfort !  Does 
not  the  stranger  to  this  heavenly  temper  lack  all 
the  essential  elements  of  happiness  ?  He  entertains 
an  enemy  in  his  own  heart,  that  is  continually  anu ey- 
ing and  tormenting  him.  His  mental  disquietudes 
are  as  many  as  his  daily  thoughts  and  his  nightly 
dreams.  Riches  augment  his  sorrows,  honors  mul- 
tiply his  burdens,  and  the  beautiful  serpent  that 
1  James,  Edwards,  and  Irving. 


278  PAULINE  CHAEITY. 

fascinates  him  with  its  gay  and  changeful  hues  leaves 
its  virus  rankling  in  his  veins..  How  can  happiness 
consist  with  the  hunger  of  avarice,  or  the  restless- 
ness of  ambition,  or  the  turbulence  of  anger,  or  the 
discontent  of  envy,  or  the  boding  fears  of  jealousy, 
or  the  frequent  mortifications  of  vanity,  or  the  sullen 
moroseness  of  malice,  or  the  insatiate  fury  of  re- 
venge, or  the  fiery  stings  of  remorse  ?  Who  can  be 
happy,  that  nurses  in  his  bosom  this  brood  of  vipers, 
this  band  of  furies,  this  brotherhood  of  fiends  ? 

But  he  that  opens  the  door  to  charity,  before 
whose  angel-presence  they  all  flee  away,  has  within 
himself  the  elements  and  the  atmosphere  of  heaven. 
Yielding  to  this  gracious  influence,  and  entertaining 
this  celestial  guest,  we  enjoy  a  divine  peace  and  con- 
tentment approximating  the  blessedness  of  the  glori- 
fied and  the  unfallen.  The  manna  falls  fresh  every 
night  around  our  tents,  and  a  river  of  living  waters 
follows  us  through  the  desert.  We  stand  upon 
Pisgah,  and  the  promised  land  lies  in  its  beauty 
before  us.  We  repose  where  Jacob  did,  and  white- 
robed  forms  with  wings  of  sunbeams  pass  between 
us  and  heaven.  We  have  what  Peter  desired  —  a 
tabernacle  upon  the  holy  mount  in  the  presence  of 
the  excellent  glory,  and  truly  it  is  good  to  be  there. 
For  charity  is  the  original  temper  of  paradise,  man 
restored  to  harmony  with  God,  co-operating  with  the 
Infinite  Beneficence,  and  partaking  the  very  nectar 
and  ambrosia  of  immortality ! 

"The  highest  moment  known  on  earth  by  the 
merely  natural,  is  that  in  which  the  mysterious 
union  of  heart  with  heart  is  felt.     Call  it  what  you 


CHARITY  ENFORCED.  279 

will,  that  mystic  blending  of  two  souls  in  one,  when 
self  is  lost  and  found  again  in  the  being  of  another, 
and  we  find  that  spirit  has  touched  spirit,  is  the 
purest,  serenest  ecstasy  of  the  merely  human ;  more 
blessed  than  any  sight  that  can  be  presented  to  the 
eye,  or  any  sound  that  can  be  given  to  the  ear; 
more  sublime  than  the  sublimest  dream  ever  con- 
ceived by  genius  in  its  most  gifted  hour,  when  the 
freest  way  was  given  to  the  shaping  spirit  of  imagi- 
nation." ^ 

True,  indeed  —  most  true  and  beautiful !  Yet  the 
spirit  of  Pauline  charity  as  far  transcends  it  all  as 
the  divine  transcends  the  human,  as  the  products 
of  grace  in  the  regenerate  soul  transcend  the  natu- 
ral impulses  and  emotions.  In  the  experience  of 
God's  sanctified  ones  are  heights  to  which  the  mere 
human  cannot  soar,  and  depths  which  nature  has  no 
line  to  fathom.  "As  it  is  written,  Eye  hath  not 
seen,  ear  hath  not  heard,  neither  have  entered  into 
the  heart  of  man,  the  things  which  God  hath  laid 
up  for  them  that  love  him;  but  he  hath  revealed 
them  unto  us  by  his  Spirit,"  and  we  rejoice  in  the 
conscious  possession  of  them  as  precious  mysteries  of 
grace. 

To  him  whose  heart  is  imbued  with  this  blessed 
principle,  even  malice,'  and  mockery,  and  vilest  slan- 
der, and  crudest  persecution,  become  ministers  of 
spiritual  good.  The  archers  may  shoot  at  him,  but 
he  bows  his  head,  and  the  arrow  only  carries  away 
the  crown  of  thorns.  They  may  nail  him  to  the 
cross,  but  he  shall  feel  the  fatal  wood  beueath  him 
1  F.  W.  Robertson, 


280  PAULINE  CHAEITY. 

blossoming  into  a  tree  of  life.^  And  thus  the  say- 
ing of  the  ancient  sage  proves  true  in  a  higher  sense 
than  he  intended  —  "  If  one  but  knew  the  value  of 
an  enemy,  he  would  purchase  him  with  purest  gold." 
The  meekness  and  gentleness  of  charity  disarms 
wrath  and  makes  revenge  relent.  It  is  the  melody 
of  David's  harp,  melting  the  murderous  Saul  to 
penitence.  It  leads  the  lion  in  its  silken  cords,  and 
lays  its  hand  securely  upon  the  crested  serpent. 
''It  is  a  noble  plant,  full  of  vigorous  life,  that  allows 
insects  and  reptiles  to  feed  upon  its  bark  and  leaves ; 
but  grows  on  in  silence,  and  rears  its  head  in  beauty 
and  majesty,  and  throws  out  its  branches  on  all  sides 
to  the  wind  and  the  light,  bright  and  fragrant  with 
bloom  and  bending  with  abundant  fruit."  ^ 

And  in  proportion  as  we  improve  in  charity,  we 
improve  in  all  other  virtues;  for  they  grow  in 
clusters,  like  grapes  upon  the  vine,  partakers  of  a 
common  life ;  and  thus  the  power  of  the  gospel  is 
displayed,  and  by  the  beauty  of  holiness  in  the 
Christian  character  men  are  drawn  to  Christ,  the 
fountain  of  holiness.  Oh !  how  much  the  honor  of 
true  religion  is  involved  in  the  temper  of  its  disci- 
ples! and,  how  much  its  success  in  the  salvation  of 
the  world  must  depend  upon  their  practical  exem- 
plification of  its  spirit !  All  me !  how  the  selfish 
principle  has  marred  the  form  and  features  of  the 
Bride  of  Christ,  and  sullied  her  snowy  raiment,  and 
weakened  her  strength  in  the  way  !  What  a  stigma 
has  been  fixed  upon  God's  gracious  evangel,  and 
what  fearful  havoc  has  been  made  of  human  souls, 

1  Jean  Paul.  2  John  Angell  James. 


CHARITY  ENFORCED.  281 

by  the  unkindness  and  discourtesy  of  some  calling 
themselves  Christians  and  professing  much  zeal  for 
the  honor  and  interest  of  Christianity  —  by  their 
pride  and  vanity,  their  envy  and  jealousy,  their  am- 
bition and  ostentation,  their  censoriousness  and  evil 
surmising,  their  Pharisaic  bigotry  and  intolerance, 
their  unmeek  and  unforgiving  temper,  their  bitter 
feuds  and  party  animosities,  the  heat  of  controversy 
and  the  wounds  of  calumny,  the  deadly  rancor  of 
malice  and  the  demoniac  fierceness  of  revenge  ! 

Who  has  any  holy  ambition  ?  Here  is  ample  scope 
for  its  exercise.  Let  us  redeem  the  credit  of  Chris- 
tianity with  the  world  by  a  practical  exemplification 
of  its  characteristic  charity.  Let  us  at  least  rise  to 
the  level  of  the  Pandu  prince  in  the  great  Sanskrit 

epic  — 

"  Who  loveth  most,  of  saints  is  first."  ^ 

Christians !  are  you  a  peculiar  people,  chosen  of  God 
and  set  apart  for  his  service  that  ye  may  show  forth 
his  praise  —  mirrors  to  reflect  his  image  to  those  who 
know  him  not  ?  What  could  angels  more  ?  God  is 
love ;  and  the  more  you  love,  the  more  you  are  like 
God ;  and  the  more  you  are  like  him,  the  more  you 
glorify  him  on  the  earth.  This  is  your  high  calling 
in  Christ  Jesus.  "  There  is  nothing  else  in  the  uni- 
verse, except  God  himself,  so  beautiful  as  that  blessed 
xjreature,  be  he  man  or  angel,  whose  heart  is  imbued 
with  love,  whose  whole  being  is  subordinated  to  its 
influence,  and  whose  every  faculty  is  devoted  to  its 
ends."  2 

Love  is  the  brightest  star  in  the  Christian  firma- 
1  Contemporary  Review.  ^  John  Angell  James. 


282  PAULtN-E  CHAR  IT'S. 

ment,  and  the  fairest  flower  in  the  garden  of  God. 
It  comprehends  all  virtue,  honor,  goodness,  purity, 
sincerity,  magnanimity,  and  whatever  else  can  adorn 
the  human  character.  For  what  is  holiness,  but  love 
pure  and  supreme  ?  and  what  is  heaven,  but  love  per- 
fected, and  unalloyed,  and  everlasting  ?  and  what  are 
all  the  Christian  virtues  and  graces,  but  so  many 
modifications  and  variations  of  the  same  divine  prin- 
ciple ?  Mercy,  what  is  it  but  love  sparing  the  guilty  ? 
and  kindness,  but  love  blessing  the  needy  ?  and  pity, 
but  love  sympathizing  with  the  sufferer  ?  and  justice, 
but  love  rendering  to  all  their  due  ?  And  what  is 
beneficence,  but  love  distributing  its  bounty?  and 
gratitude,  but  love  reciprocating  its  favors  ?  and  for- 
titude, but  love  sustaining  its  burdens?  and  peni- 
tence, but  love  bewailing  its  sinfulness  ?  and  fidelity, 
but  love  performing  its  promises  and  vows?  And 
what  is  faith,  but  love  confiding  ?  and  zeal,  but  love 
contending?  and  peace,  but  love  reposing?  and  joy, 
but  love  exulting  ?  and  hope,  but  love  expecting  ?  and 
patience,  but  love  enduring  ?  and  meekness,  but  love 
forbearing  with  its  foe  ?  And  worship  is  love  ador- 
ing the  Divine  Excellence,  and  prayer  is  love  sup- 
plicating its  heavenly  Father,  and  praise  is  love 
pouring  its  glad  melody  into  the  ear  of  God,  and 
preaching  is  love  proclaiming  the  riches  of  the  love 
that  passeth  knowledge,  and  the  holy  eucharist  is 
love  celebrating  love's  sublimest  mystery  and  love's 
transcendent  triumph,  and  all  Christian  work  is  love 
bringing  its  best  sacrifice  to  the  altar  of  the  Love 
eternal,  and  laying  its  richest  tribute  at  the  nail- 
pierced  feet. 


CHARITY  ENFOECED.  283 

Of  Buddha  it  is  recorded — and  this  much  may  well 
be  historical  —  that,  arriving  at  manhood  and  looking" 
out  upon  real  life,  he  exclaimed :  "  All  is  miserable, 
all  is  perishable,  all  is  delusive  and  void.  Alas  for 
youth  devoured  by  old  age  I  Alas  for  health  wasted 
by  many  diseases  I  Alas  for  life  retained  for  so  short 
a  time !  Oh !  were  there  no  old  age,  no  disease, 
no  death !  Oh !  could  these  be  made  captive  for- 
ever ! "  1  And  captive  forever  are  they  not  made, 
my  brethren !  Hath  not  Christ,  for  his  followers, 
abolished  death,  disease,  and  old  age  ?  Hath  he  not, 
by  the  spirit  of  his  gospel,  taken  the  misery  out  of 
life,  with  all  its  vanity  and  emptiness  ?  Hath  he  not, 
by  the  infusion  of  a  new  virtue,  given  a  new  noble- 
ness to  our  redeemed  nature,  and  lifted  us  up  to  the 
fellowship  of  the  Father  and  his  holy  ones  ?  Is  not 
Pauline  charity  what  Tertullian  calls  it  —  "  reason 
perfected  by  grace  "  —  the  very  power  that  carries 
the  soul  forward  to  its  divinest  destiny,  and  furnishes 
it  even  here  with  no  uncertain  foretaste  of  the  joys 
that  await  its  full  enfranchisement  in  the  kingdom 
of  perfect  love  ? 

Good,  indeed,  it  is,  with  faith  and  hope  to  stand 
upon*  "  the  Delectable  Mountains,"  having  "  a  pleas- 
ant prospect  on  every  side,"  and  talk  of  "  the  Celes- 
tial City,"  and  behold  far  away,  though  dimly  and 
through  the  shepherds'  glass,  "something  like  the 
gate,  and  also  some  of  the  glory  of  the  place."  But 
charity  is  already  in  "the  land  of  Beulah,"  where 
"the  sun  shineth  night  and  day"  upon  the  very 
"borders  of  heaven,"   and  within  full  view  of  the 

1  Dr.  Uhlhorn. 


284  PAULINE  CHARITY. 

jewelled  walls ;  and  she  hears  "  continually  the  song 
of  birds  "  and  "loud  voices  from  out  the  city ;  "  and 
ever  and  anon  she  meets  with  "some  of  the  inhab- 
itants thereof"  —  "the  shining  ones,"  who  delight 
to  "  walk  there,"  and  welcome  the  pilgrims  as  they 
come,;  and  she  reposes  in  "  the  King's  arbors,"  and 
refreshes  herself  in  his  "pleasant  vineyards,"  the 
grapes  whereof  "go  down  so  sweetly  as  to  cause  the 
lips  of  them  that  are  asleep  to  speak !  "  ^ 

Here  ends,  at  length,  our  pleasant  task.  What  is 
the  sum  of  the  matter  ?  Among  the  fairest  and  no- 
blest human  qualities,  there  is  nothing  comparable 
to  Christian  charity.  Charity  is  the  queen  of  the 
graces,  the  empress  of  the  virtues,  the  brightest  gem 
on  the  brow  of  Emmanuel's  bride.  The  reign  of 
charity  was  the  bloom  of  the  unblighted  Eden,  the 
loss  of  charity  was  the  forfeiture  of  primeval  blessed- 
ness, and  the  recovery  of  charity  will  be  paradise 
regained.  We  want  good  health,  and  long  life,  and 
large  success,  and  public  esteem,  and  posthumous 
fame,  and  the  graces  of  learning,  and  the  treasures 
of  science,  and  the  adornments  of  genius,  with  pros- 
perous government,  liberal  education,  purity  in  poli- 
tics, wise  statesmanship  in  Congress,  ardent  patriotism 
among  the  people,  and  churches  richly  endowed  with 
the  manifold  gifts  of  God ;  but  the  grand  desidera- 
tum, the  one  thing  needful,  the  basis  of  all  well- 
being,  our  greatest  wealth  on  earth,  and  our  richest 
endowment  in  heaven,  is  what  we  have  been  en- 
deavoring in  these  serial  discourses  clearly  to  explain 
1  Pilgrim's  Progress. 


CHARITY  ENFDECED.  285 

and  effectually  to  enforce  for  your  Christian  edifica- 
tion. 

O  God,  the  Giver  of  all  good  things !  grant  us  the 
grace  of  thy  Holy  Spirit,  and  enable  us  all,  as  disci- 
ples of  thy  dear  Son,  faithfully  to  "follow  after 
Charity"  — 

"  Still  looking  to  that  goal  sublime, 

Whose  light  remote  but  sure  we  see  — 
Pilgrims  of  love,  whose  way  is  time, 
Whose  home  is  in  eternity  1 "  ^ 

1  Moore. 


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